It was the growth of radio during the 1930s that created the popular music industry in Brazil, with home-grown stars idolized by millions. The best-known was Carmen Miranda , spotted by a Hollywood producer singing in the famous Urca casino in Rio and whisked off to film stardom in the 1940s. Although her hats made her immortal, she deserves to be remembered more as the fine singer she was. She was one of a number of singers and groups loved by older Brazilians, like Francisco Alves , Ismael Silva , Mário Reis , Ataulfo Alves , Trio de Ouro and Joel e Gaúcho . Two great songwriters, Ary Barroso and Pixinguinha , provided the raw material. Brazilians call these early decades a época de ouro, and that it really was a golden age is proved by the surviving music on record. It is slower and jazzier than modern Brazilian music, but with the same rhythms and beautiful, crooning vocals. Even in Brazil it used to be difficult to get hold of records of this era but after years of neglect there is now a widely available series of reissues called Revivendo. They send catalogues abroad, if you can't make it to Brazil to buy the records: write to Revivendo Músicas Comércio de Discos Ltda, Rua Barão do Rio Branco 28/36 - 1. andar, Caixa Postal 122, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.