"A Banda" ("The Band") is a song by Chico Buarque, who wrote both the music and the Portuguese lyrics. It was first performed live in 1966 by Buarque and Nara Leão at the II Música Popular Brasileira (MPB) Festival at TV Record's theatre in São Paulo, where it won the Viola de Ouro award for best composition, and it immediately brought Buarque into the limelight in Brazil. The original recording was released in 1966 on the Brazilian RGE label as the first track of side one of the LP Chico Buarque de Hollanda (Vol. 1). The song is a samba in a bossa nova style.
In 1967 Mina recorded an Italian version, "La banda", with lyrics by Antonio Amurri, which reached number two in Italy. She recorded a Portuguese version in 1970. That same year, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass recorded an instrumental version, "A Banda (Ah Bahn-da)", on A&M, released on Herb Alpert's Ninth. It was an Easy Listening number one and reached number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100. Astrud Gilberto, France Gall and Sergio Mendes also recorded versions.
