Although música sertaneja (also known simply sertanejo) has been around since the 1920s, it's form has continuously evolved to keep pace with the times. It's latest incarnation, Sertanejo Universitário, has a distinctive pop feel which local artists have taken internationally - achieving #1 hits across Europe and on US-based Billboard Latin charts.

Sertanejo originated in the rural area of central Brazil - in the states of São Paulo, Paraná, Minas Gerais, Goias, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. It consisted of romantic ballads, and/or stories about rural life and struggles - but was also popular dance music. As with forró, from Brazil's northeast, its signature sound is the accordion - playing a role similar to the fiddle in early American country music. Other instruments used are the acoustic guitar (viola in portuguese), and the viola caipira which is a type of brazilian guitar using ten strings rather rather than the usual six.

This 1899 painting, O Violeiro (The Guitar Player) by José Ferraz de Almeida Júnior, shows a rural scene with a man playing a traditional Violão Caipira - ten-string guitar. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.