Saddened to hear of the death on Monday of the great Moraes Moreira, original guitarist and sometime vocalist with Novos Baianos, legends of MPB (responsible for the album once voted the best Brazilian album of all time, "Acabou Chorare") and subsequent solo artist, of a heart attack at the age of 72. He was clearly the driving force behind the band's creative side in the early days, and indeed he is the writer or co-writer of the majority of their classic material - "Preta Pretinha", "Acabou Chorare", "Mistério do Planeta", "A Menina Dança", "Cosmos e Damião", "Linguagem do Alunte" - as well as being the lead in some of their best known covers, such as "A Samba da Minha Terra". We know this because the quality of Novos Baianos records nosedived dramatically after he left the band, whereas for several years Moraes continued to put out great material. The original Novos Baianos lineup reunited in 2015 to finally give us some closure.