In Ouro Preto about 250 musicians were active, and in all of the territory of Minas Gerais almost a thousand musicians were active. In the city of Arraial do Tejuco, nowadays Diamantina, there were ten conductors in activity. Some of the most famous pieces of this period are the Magnificat by Manoel Dias de Oliveira and the Our Lady's Antiphon by Lobo de Mesquita. All of them were very active, but in many cases few pieces have survived until the present day. Some of the noteworthy composers of this period were Lobo de Mesquita, Manoel Dias de Oliveira, Francisco Gomes da Rocha, Marcos Coelho Neto and Marcos Coelho Neto Filho. The musical pieces were mostly sacred music. At this time, the first outstanding Brazilian composers were revealed, most of them mulattoes. In the second part of the 18th century, there was a great flourishing in Minas Gerais, mostly in the regions of Vila Rica (currently Ouro Preto), Mariana and Arraial do Tejuco (currently Diamantina), where the mining of gold and diamonds for the Portuguese metropolis attracted a sizable population. In the first half of this century, the most outstanding works were composed by Luís Álvares Pinto, Caetano de Mello de Jesus and Antônio José da Silva ('the Jew'), who became successful in Lisbon writing librettos for comedies, which were performed also in Brazil with music by António Teixeira. The previously few private orchestras became more common and the churches presented a great variety of music. In the 18th century, there was intense musical activity in all the more developed regions of Brazil, with their moderately stable institutional and educational structures. Ouro Preto, in Minas Gerais: one of the most important musical centers in Brazil during the 18th century. Some information is available in writings left by such travellers as Jean de Léry, who lived in Brazil from 1557 to 1558 and produced the first known transcriptions of native American music: two chants of the Tupinambá, near Rio de Janeiro. During the colonial period, documents detail the musical activities of the major Roman Catholic cathedrals and the parlors of the upper classes, but data about musical life outside these domains are sparse. Little is known of the music of Brazil before the area's first encounter with Portuguese explorers on 22 April 1500.

3.10 Music of Salvador: Late 60s to mid-70s.

The country also has a growing community of modern/experimental composition, including electroacoustic music.

Notable classical composers include Heitor Villa-Lobos, Carlos Gomes and Cláudio Santoro. Among the later, Naná Vasconcelos, Pixinguinha, Hermeto Pascoal and Egberto Gismonti are significant figures. Instrumental music is also largely practiced in Brazil, with styles ranging from classical to popular and jazz influenced forms. The first four winners of the Shell Brazilian Music prize have each left a legacy on Brazilian music and are among the representatives of Brazilian popular music: Pixinguinha (choro), Antônio Carlos Jobim (bossa nova), Dorival Caymmi (samba and samba-canção). Samba has become the most known form of Brazilian music worldwide, especially because of the country's carnival, although bossa nova, which had Antônio Carlos Jobim as one of its most acclaimed composers and performers, have received much attention abroad since the 1950s, when the song ' Desafinado', interpreted by João Gilberto, was first released. Brazilian music developed some unique and original styles such as forró, repente, coco de roda, axé, sertanejo, samba, bossa nova, MPB, música nativista, pagode, tropicália, choro, maracatu, embolada (coco de repente), frevo, brega, Brazilian funk, modinha and Brazilian versions of foreign musical styles, such as rock, pop music, soul, hip-hop, disco music, country music, ambient, industrial and psychedelic music, rap, classical music, fado, and gospel. The music of Brazil encompasses various regional musical styles influenced by European, American, African and Amerindian forms.

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