To qualify Leci Brandão as an “ancestral mother” is to suggest that she is both successful and powerful. Yet, unlike Daniela Mercury, the Bahian solo performer who has popularized the songs of many Afro-Bahian carnival groups, Leci Brandão's name is still not widely known—but she can no longer be neglected. Continuing the legacy of such eminent singers as Alcione and Beth Carvalho, whose samba lyrics continue to be sung by Brazilians, especially in pagode circles, Brandão's lyrical output and political sensibility deserve to be brought to light. Given the limited research done on her to date and the scant bibliographic resources, this essay situates her work within all of Brazilian popular music in order to assess her full import to Brazilian music and specifically her stature as a figurative ancestral mother. Born on September 12, 1944, the daughter of Pérola Negra, one of the leading artists who popularized Brazil pagode in Brazil and in the wider world, Leci Brandão da Silva has emerged as a voice of continuity in a musical tradition that is as old as slavery. Although she celebrated twenty-five years of singing samba in 2000 and has almost two dozen CDs or LPs to her credit, she is still not as popular as such figures as Martinho da Vila, Beth Carvalho, Aragão, or Alcione.