Guinga (Carlos Althier de Souza Lemos Escobar), born in Madureira, a working class suburb of Rio de Janeiro, was nicknamed ‘Gringo’ because of his pale skin. The name by which he is known as an artist, ‘Guinga’ (pronounced Geen-ga), came from his pronunciation of the word. At the age of eleven he began guitar lessons with his uncle and started composing in his early teens. In 1976 he enrolled for several years of classical guitar studies with Jodacil Damasceno.

In the 1970s Guinga was well known for his role as accompanist to leading singers of the era. He also trained as a dentist, a parallel career he continued for many years. Widely considered as one of Brazil’s greatest living composers, as guitarist, vocalist and songwriter it has been estimated that there are over 155 recordings of Guinga’s music. His output includes many styles combining jazz with Brazilian genres such as samba, choro, frevo, coco, baião and modinha.