Arnaldo Moreno

Arnaldo Moreno came from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, where he started playing music as a boy. He wrote songs on whatever instruments he could find and performed at local festivals before anything else happened.

In 1992, he wrote "Doze Latinhas," a ballad about life in Brazil's marginalized communities. The song became a national hit almost immediately, and it remains his best-known work. He also recorded "Romance Proibido" around the same time.

Moreno released several albums in the 1990s, including Favela in 1994 and Esperança in 1998. His music mixed Brazilian rhythms with samba and hip-hop elements, though he never became a major figure outside his home country.