Idolized in his country but less known abroad, Dorival Caymmi (1914-2008) is one of the most influential singer-songwriters in the history of Brazil's popular music. Major figures such as João Gilberto, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso have sung his praise and cited him as a prime source of inspiration for their work.

Jacques Duvall, the elegant lyricist who has written songs for key French artists such as Alain Chamfort, Lio and Jane Birkin, has come up with the idea for this album, in which his partner-in-crime Lio performs twelve Dorival Caymmi songs. The works of the Bahian master are subtly revisited, as if translocated to the Northern hemisphere, thanks to inventive arrangements by French musician Chris Vandeputte, and to Lio's moving & lively interpretation.

Born Vanda Maria Ribeiro Furtado Tavares de Vasconcelos in Lisbon and raised in Brussels, Lio became a pop icon in France and Belgium ever since the release of her debut single "Le Banana Split" in 1979, she was sixteen at the time. She went on to record several highly successful albums (on which she worked with the likes of Telex, The Sparks and John Cale), and pursued a career as an actress, appearing in no less than 40 feature films. "Lio canta Caymmi" is the first album she sings in her native Portuguese.