In 1966, she sang "Saveiros" at the first Festival Internacional da Canção in Rio, and won first place in the national phase of the competition, despite boos from the crowd, who preferred Gal Costa's rendition of Gil's "Minha Senhora".

[2] Caymmi became a controversial figure, not at home in the Tropicalia scene nor in the protest song movement.

Only marginally successful, she found work singing in Portuguese language nightclubs outside of Brazil in South America.

In the 1980s, she recorded several albums for EMI and appeared in the 1983 documentary Bahia de Todos os Sambas.

[3] In 2019, she received another nomination in the same category, this time for the album Nana Caymmi Canta Tito Madi.