The Quarteto em Cy was founded by Cyva, Cynara and Cybele. It is the most prominent female vocal group in the MPB. They met Carlos Lira and Vinicius De Moraes in the early 1960s. Their vocal group was named after them. They also performed shows in Brazil and South America, with Dorival Caymmi and Baden Powell. They performed the “Samba do Crioulo Doido”, “Apelo”, (Baden Powell/Vinicius de Moraes), “Pedro Pedreiro”, (Chico Buarque de Hollanda) at the historical festivals. Resistindo, Em Mil Kilohertz and Cobra de Vidro (with MPB-4) were some of their most memorable shows. The records of the quartet were released in Japan, Portugal and Spain as well as Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Spain, Chile, Mexico, Argentina and the U.S. They recorded the soundtrack for the movie Sol Sobre a Lama (Alex Viany) in 1963. The quartet debuted in a live performance on June 30, 1964 at Bottle’s Bar in Beco das Gafas. They recorded Quarteto em Cy, their first LP that year. Their sister Regina replaced Cylene and they went to America in 1966 for a series performances on Andy Williams’ Coast To Coast (NBC, Los Angeles, CA, and The Joey Bishop Show(ABC), as well as at the Sahara and Harrah’s in Lake Tahoe and at San Jeronimo Hilton Hotel, Puerto Rico and Shamrock Hilton Hotel, Houston, TX. Cynara (Chico Buarque) won third place at II Festival Internacional da Cancao, an International Song Festival. In 1968, Cynara (Chico Buarque/Tom Jobim) was the winner of the III FIC. The quartet was again hired to perform in America. Cynara, Cybele and Tom Jobim were replaced by Cynthia, and Cymiramis. The quartet split up in January 1970 while they were still performing in the U.S. Cyva returned to Brazil and restructured it with Cynara, Soninha (Sonia Maria Ferreira De Medeiros Albuquerque); Dorinha (Dora Tapajos Gomes). Cybele took over Dorinha’s place in the group’s permanent lineup in 1980. The quartet performed in Tokyo (Japan), in 1989 at a bossa-nova festival, and on a Japanese TV special. They were joined by Carlos Lira and Leila Pinheiro, Uakti and Celia Vaz who has been the Quarteto’s musical director since 1980. They toured Spain in 1992 with Gilson Peranzzetta and Maria Creuza, after being invited by the Spanish government. They returned to Japan in 1997 and 1998 to perform more shows and launch another CD. All four albums of the quartet were made in Japan. They were awarded the Sharp prize in 1997 as the Best Vocal Group. They launched the live CD Quarteto em Cy e Luiz Claudio Ramos in January 2001. It was a tribute to Vinicius De Moraes that they had performed at the Paiol theatre (Curitiba), Parana. Allmusic
