Daughter of samba legend Martinho da Vila, the dusky-voiced Mart'nália Mendonça Ferreira—or Mart'nália—grew up immersed in Rio de Janeiro's boisterous Afro-Brazilian carnival sound and eventually became a star herself. Whether playing classic sambas or modernized originals, she fuses the heavily percussive call-and-response of samba de morro, the guitar-driven samba de asfalto, and the slow, romantic samba cançao. With her crisply delivered lyrics and breezily percussive arrangements, Mart'nália carries the mantle for Brazil's rich samba tradition.