Som Imaginário are the stuff of MPB mythos. Integral to Brazil’s Clube Da Esquina movement in the early 1970s, a heady blend of progressive rock, folk, psychedelia, jazz, and traditional Brazilian rhythm flows through the three studio albums the band recorded between ’70 and ’73. Flying the countercultural freak-flag amid the context of military dictatorship, the Brazilian prog lords shared much of the sense of experimentation and bountiful fuzz bequeathed by their tropicalismo forbearers. But armed with genius composers, arrangers and stupendously high-level musicianship, Som Imaginário introduced a potent harmonic complexity to Brazilian popular music, which would inspire generations of artists to come. On October 4th, 1976, having finished a spell of recording and touring with Milton Nascimento, Som Imaginário performed a concert in celebration of Nature Day in Brasília. The recordings of the show would become Banda Da Capital, which, for the past half century, has laid dormant, waiting for its mystical power to be untapped. In the band that day were original members Wagner Tiso and Fredera, joined by Nivaldo Ornelas, Paulinho Braga, and Jamil Joanes. Operating within such a hugely creative and free-spirited scene meant line-up fluctuations were inevitable and former Som Imaginário members also include Laudir de Oliveira (who left to join Chicago), Nana Vasconcelos (who also moved to work in the US), Zé Rodrix, Robertinho Silva, Novelli, and Toninho Horta. Titled after the Belo Horizonte radio station where they would practice during their youth, the show opens with “Rádio Guarany”, an improvisation led by Paulinho Braga and Nivaldo Ornelas. The track morphs into Nivaldo Ornelas’s composition “Xa Mate”, which also opens Milton Nascimento’s Milagre dos Peixes ao Vivo album, featuring Som Imaginário and a 32-piece orchestra. Having grown up together in Minas Gerais, composer, arranger and keyboard player Wagner Tiso had been another close musical partner of Milton Nascimento’s. Some of their work together includes many of Bituca’s most beloved albums, including Clube Da Esquina, Milton Nascimento (1970) and Maria Maria / Ultimo Trem, as well as Native Dancer: Nascimento’s album with Wayne Shorter. One of the album’s most tender moments is a beautiful rendition of the post-tropicalista folk-rock classic “Sabado”, written by Fredera for Som Imaginiaro’s debut album.