Quarteto em Cy (a play on words of the Portuguese for ''Quartet in B'' by poet and lyricist

Vinicius de Moraes Marcus Vinícius da Cruz e Mello Moraes (19 October 1913 – 9 July 1980), better known as Vinícius de Moraes () and nicknamed O Poetinha ("The little poet"), was a Brazilian poet, diplomat, lyricist, essayist, musician, singer, and playwright ...

) is a Brazilian

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

originally composed of four sisters hailing from

Ibirataia Ibirataia is a municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Bahia This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Bahia (BA), located in the Northeast Region of Brazil. Bahia i ...

, a town located in the Brazilian state of

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest ...

: Cybele, Cylene, Cynara and Cyva – their real first names.

History

They started performing in 1959, appearing on local television in that year. Cyva, the leader of the group, then moved to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

, and persuaded her three sisters to join her there. They then started to make regular appearances in the ''boates'' (small nightclubs) of Rio, particularly ''Bottle's bar'' and the legendary ''Zum-Zum'', where they caught the attention of Vinicius de Moraes and other prominent figures of the

bossa nova Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...

scene. Their first album was released in 1964, and was to be followed by regular releases up to the late '90s, at the frequency of one a year, and sometimes more. Connoisseurs of MPB and tropicalia have a particular regard for the first few years of their recording career, when they were signed to Brazil's most daring label, Elenco. The Quarteto em Cy, noted for the extraordinary