Maria Bethânia 80 years old: discover 80 recordings that attest to the performer's great strength in six decades of recording

Maria Bethânia turns 80 tomorrow, Thursday, June 18
Guilherme Nabhan / Disclosure
♫ MARIA BETHÂNIA 80 YEARS OLD
♬ Throughout her 61-year recording career, Maria Bethânia has maintained extraordinary fidelity to the principles she established for herself by following a professional path paved with extreme cohesion and coherence.
Unlike the discography of great singers from the same generation of MPB, precisely Elis Regina (1945 - 1982) and Gal Costa (1945 - 2022), the phonographic work of Maria Bethânia Vianna Telles Velloso never changed timbres and tones accordingly under the direction of music producers. From this perspective, only another immense singer of the generation, Nana Caymmi (1941 - 2025), maintained the same fidelity to the canons she established for herself.
Maria Bethânia's work transcends labels and movements. The performer's theatrical soul and her deep voice with a dramatic vein have been the artist's only guides in the construction of a discography that began in 1965 with the release of a single by the record label RCA with records of "Carcará" (João do Vale and José Cândido) - a song that projected the Bahian artist on a national scale on the inflamed stage of the show "Opinião", a theatrical show that started to feature Bethânia in the cast from February 1965 - and "De Morning", a song by the then unknown Caetano Veloso, the singer's brother.
Maria Bethânia's sovereignty is the thread that connects this seminal single from 1965 to the single released in January of this year, 2026, with the studio recording of "Vera Cruz", a samba by Xande de Pilares and Paulo César Feital presented by the singer last year on the show "60 anos de career" (2025).
Born on June 18, 1946 in the interior city of Santo Amaro da Purificação (BA), Maria Bethânia turns 80 tomorrow, Thursday. Continuing the series of texts celebrating the anniversary, Mauro Ferreira's Blog chooses 80 great recordings - among the 2,059 phonographic records made by the performer between 1965 and 2026 - that attest to the never-ending strength of a referential song in Brazilian music.
♪ Here, in chronological order, are the 80 most expressive recordings in Maria Bethânia's discography with the year in which they were released by the singer ↴
1. "Carcará" (1965) - The first flight of the untamed northeastern eagle.
2. "De Morning" (1965) - Caetano Veloso's first recorded song.
3. "Três apitos" (1966) - The pain of a samba-canção by Noel Rosa.
4. "To say goodbye" (1967) - Suffering in the farewell song sung with Edu Lobo.
5. "Marginália II" (live, 1968) - The tropical melancholy of knowing that this is the end of the world.
6. "O que had de ser" (live, 1968) - The intensity of Tom and Vinicius' too much love.
7. "Marinheiro Só" (live, 1970) - In Bahia's samba circle.
8. "Your presence morena" (1971) - Caetano's omnipresence in Bethânia's discography.
9. "Movement of Boats" (live, 1971) - Bethânia in the eternal movement of the show "Rosa dos Ventos".
10. "Esse cara" (1972) - Consumed by sensual love in my brother Caetano's song.
11. "Estacio Holly, Estácio" (1972) - Launching a samba by Luiz Melodia.
12. "Drama" (1972) - She lies, but the voice doesn't...
13. "Baioque" (1972) - Rock sound and fury on the soundtrack to the film "When Carnival Arrives".
14. "Iansã" (live, 1973) - Salute to the owner of the winds by the MPB orixá, complete with a text by Bethânia herself.
15. "Gás neon" (live, 1974) - Shining on the long avenue of Gonzaguinha in a medley with "Luzes da limelight", by Chaplin.
16. "Without sugar" (live, 1975) - Drama of the submissive woman in Chico's song.
17. "Gitã" (live, 1975) - Sound and fury in the song of Raul Seixas' hit.
18. "Impossible Dream" (live, 1975) - A flower sprouts from the impossible ground.
19. "Coração atheu" (1975) - Song by Sueli Costa hits hard on the soundtrack of the soap opera "Gabriela"
20. "Olhos nos Olhos" (1976) - The passport song to the popularity of AM radio.
21. "Um Índio" (live, 1976) - An Indian descended from the heavens at the show by the group Doces Bárbaros
22. "Terezinha" (1977) - The first to arrive with Chico's song.
23. "It would start all over again" (1977) - A happy bolero by Gonzaguinha.
24. "Ronda" (1978) - The most complete translation of Paulo Vanzolini's music.
25. "Sonho meu" (1978) - Sublime samba by Ivone Lara and Délcio Carvalho in duet with Gal.
26. "Explode Coração" (1978) - I couldn't hold back any longer: Bethânia explodes onto the charts.
27. "Negue" (1978) - Deny that you knew the 1960 samba-canção in the voice of Bethânia.
28. "Chalice" (1978) - Father, keep censorship away from me!
29. "Mel" (1979) - The Queen Bee's letter of principles.
30. "Cheiro de amor" (1979) - The motel jingle that became a radio hit.
31. "Grito de alert" (1979) - DR in the song by Gonzaguinha.
32. "The hot side of being" (1980) - The pleasure of being a woman and giving voice to a song by Marina Lima.
33. "Maravida" (1981) - Gonzaguinha's ode to the life that is beautiful, is beautiful and is beautiful.
34. "O que é o que é" (live, 1982) - Another ode by Gonzaguinha to life in the beautiful cadence of samba that became the preferred encore of Bethânia's shows.
35. "Vida" (live, 1982) - The definitive and anthological interpretation of the song that Chico released in 1980.
36. "Brincar de viver" (1983) - The song from the children's special that adults love.
37. "Bonfire" (1983) - Igniting Angela Ro Ro's love and pain once again.
38. "Motriz" (1983) - Memories of childhood and mother, Dona Canô, the north of life.
39. "In the first morning" (1984) - Solitude is a beast that devours in the definitive recording of Alceu's song.
40. "Golden Years" (1986) - Bolero by Tom and Chico to warm up Decembers and other months.
41. "Gosso Too" (1986) - The singer in the arms of peace following the tune of Dominguinhos and Nando Cordel.
42. "Songs and Moments" (1986) - A great song and a great moment from Bethânia.
43. "Onde andarás" (1988) - The best and coolest record of a 1967 song made by Caetano based on verses by Ferreira Gullar.
44. "O Jealousy" (1988) - Caetano again, in another luminous feat by Bethânia with Gal.
45. "Tá combina" (1988) - Let's agree that this is the best interpretation of the song given by Caetano to Peninha two years earlier.
46. "Reconvexo" (1989) - Anyone who is reconcavo enters the circle of this samba by Caetano.
47. "Playing onward" (1990) - Calmly following the tune of Renato Teixeira and Almir Sater.
48. "Flor de ir Além" (1990) - Farewell in the sensitive song by Fátima Guedes.
49. "Medalha de São Jorge" (1992) - Faith in the warrior saint and in the music of Moacyr Luz and Aldir Blanc.
50. "The songs you made for me" (1993) - And didn't it seem like Roberto Carlos actually wrote the 1966 song for her?
51. "Fera ferra" (1993) - Strings and singing in the immersive pulse of the song from 1982.
52. "Você" (1993) - A ballad from 1974 takes on a chamber atmosphere in a voice and piano recording.
53. "Todo o Sentiment" (live, 1994) - The song by Cristovão Bastos and Chico Buarque in a time of delicacy in a recording that opens with an excerpt from "Genipapo Absolute".
54. "Where will my love be" (1996) - More time for delicacy in Chico César's song.
55. "Âmbar" (1996) - Everything is on fire in Adriana Calcanhotto's debut in Bethânia's discography.
56. "Rosa dos ventos" (live, 1997) - The strongest recording of Chico Buarque's music that Bethânia took for herself in 1971.
57. "Uma song desnaturada" (live, 1997) - Mother's heartbreak in Chico's song.
58. "Mensagem" (live, 1997) - All the letters and love songs are ridiculous, except when read or sung by Bethânia on tracks interspersed with texts by Fernando Pessoa.
59. "The force that never dries" (1999) - Follows the dryness in the vital breath of the song by Chico César and Vanessa da Mata.
60. "É o amor" (1999) - A touch of class to the 1991 country hit.
61. "Dona do dom" (2001) - Bethânia full of the gift that God gave her in the great song by Chico César.
62. "After having you" (2001) - Adriana Calcanhotto's beautiful song had an effect.
63. "O queres" (Live, 2002) - Where you want one thing, Bethânia is another.
64. "Yayá Massemba" (2003) - The song of resilience of enslaved Africans in Brazil.
65. "Sentimental Melody" (2003) - Villa-Lobos' Brazilian song in a sublime register.
66. "Prayer to time" (Live, 2005) - Tempo Tempo Tempo Tempo to celebrate 40 years of career.
67. "Beira-mar" (2006) - Inside the sea there is a river and the waters of Bethânia's desire.
68. "Sábado em Copacabana" (2007) - Caymmi's samba-song by the sea for the opening of the soap opera.
69. "Estrela" (2009) - Congado by Vander Lee at the encanteria party.
70. "Saudade" (2009) - Country song by Chico César and Moska in a feat with Lenine.
71. "Until the end" (2009) - Diving into the intensity of Arnaldo Antunes.
72. "Balada da Gisberta" (live, 2010) - Requiem for a transvestite killed by prejudice.
73. "State of poetry" (live, 2013) - Chico César in state of grace.
74. "Some voice" (2014) - Dori Caymmi and Paulo César Pinheiro in voice.
75. "Non, je ne regrette rien" (live, 2016) - Piaf performed by Bethânia.
76. "Silêncio" (Live, 2016) - A moment of serenity and reflection at the celebration of 50 years of career.
77. "Mortal madness" (2016) - A recording that unearthed the mysteries of the sacred voice.
78. "O sopro do fole" (2021) - The freshness of Aunt Bethânia recording her nephew Zeca Veloso's beautiful song.
79. "Fé" (live, 2025) - Hugging and thanking my brother Caetano in Iza's hit song.
80. "Vera Cruz" (2026) - An enticing portrait of the daughter of Bahia.

Source: G1