The modestly initialed MPB (música popular brasileira) represents Brazilian popular music in all its diverse splendor. In the wake of bossa nova, Tropicália figures like Caetano Veloso, Milton Nascimento, and Gal Costa smoothly blended samba and various regional styles with rock and jazz, usually on acoustic instruments and sometimes with a bossa tinge. Their exceptional songwriting skills didn't hurt, either. The soulful R&B-tinged sound of Luiz Melodia, the exquisite hippie-folk of Novos Baianos, and the roots-rocking expertise of Raul Seixas all fall under the MPB umbrella as well.