Oswaldinho Do Acordeon

Greatly influenced by Luiz Gonzaga but a major talent in his own right, accordion player Oswaldinho do Accordeon is among Brazil's masters of forró—a highly energetic, accordion-dominated style that is associated primarily with Brazil's Northeastern region. But the instrumentalist, whose names translates to "Little Oswald of the Accordion," isn't from Northeastern Brazil originally. Oswaldinho was actually born in Rio de Janeiro, where he lived as a child before moving to São Paulo when he was 10 in 1962. Oswaldinho's father, Pedro Sertanejo (himself an accordion player and a forró expert), greatly encouraged his interest in music—and in 1963, an 11-year-old Oswaldinho recorded his first album, Oswaldinho, for the Cantagalo label. Oswaldinho went on to record many more albums and, as an adult, came to be recognized as one of Brazil's forró heavyweights. In one sense, Oswaldinho's life parallels that of Stevie Wonder—like Wonder, he started recording before reaching adolescence and was still keeping busy when he entered his 40s.