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By EDWARD M. GOMEZ

More than 25 years ago, Desafinado and The Girl from Ipanema swayed the world to the sinuous sound of bossa nova. Now a new generation of musicians is discovering the old seducer: Brazil. Some of the world's leading pop stars -- David Byrne, Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel among them -- are intent on weaving novel strands of ethnic music into a fresh, global sound. They have been flying down to Rio for inspiration and coming back laden with rhythm.

Earlier this year Byrne, the leader of Talking Heads, assembled a sampling of 1970s Brazilian pop on the Fly/Sire Records album Beleza Tropical: Brazil Classics Vol. I. This month a follow-up collection, O Samba: Brazil Classics Vol. 2, is due to appear, along with Rei Momo, Byrne's solo album based on Brazilian and other Latin song styles. Simon is planning to include Brazilian- inspired material in his next album, scheduled for release in early 1990. Gabriel, whose new Real World label focuses on non-Western music, based his score for the film The Last Temptation of Christ on the sounds of Brazil and Africa. Brazil's influence is also acknowledged by Roberta Flack on her late- 1988 album Oasis. "Under a warm Rio night/ We danced on the edge," she coos in a number dedicated to Brazilian singer-composer Djavan. "And my heart stood still/ Oh, Brazil, Oh, Brazil."

U.S. record-company executives are crooning the same refrain. At Polygram, vice president Richard Seidel is overseeing a new "Brazilian Wave" series that includes anthology albums for a number of major Brazilian pop stars. Celluloid, an independent U.S. label, has launched a subsidiary called Braziloid, dedicated to musica popular brasileira, a term used by Brazilians to refer to the country's diverse contemporary sounds. CBS Records is promoting Brazilian stars like Djavan and Rio de Janeiro-born vocalist Milton Nascimento as pop acts in the U.S.

It is rhythm -- lots of rhythm -- that accounts for the new craze, and a good deal of the beat comes from the state of Bahia. There, in the Brazilian equivalent of the American Deep South, African tribal dances are blended with European sounds to create the insistent samba; the afoxe, associated with the Afro-Roman Catholic Candomble religion; and the chugging, accordion-dominated forro, which blends African rhythms with Portuguese folk music. Says U.S. guitarist Arto Lindsay, co-producer with Peter Scherer of the latest album by an eminent Brazilian performer, Caetano Veloso: "In Bahia and the north you find the purest African rhythms, some of the most innovative in Brazil." Notes Byrne: "Bahia may be to Brazil what New Orleans was as the birthplace of jazz -- a source of musical ideas that are later refined into new styles." Brazilian music, he explains, allows him to feel "the direct link between the ecstatic release of rhythmically based popular songs and the spirituality that is ((at)) their roots."

To their strong rhythmic foundation, Brazil's composer-performers add spicy blends of European melodies and unique harmonies. Maria Bethania, 43, first achieved prominence in 1965, when she substituted for the ailing star of a Rio musical. Her dark, husky voice shares a certain androgynous quality with those of some of Brazil's other top performers. Bethania's brother, Veloso, 47, is -- along with Gilberto Gil -- one of the main exponents of tropicalismo, the buoyant music of the student generation that emerged during a period of military dictatorship after 1964. That style advocated the rights of blacks, reintroduced strong Afro-Brazilian rhythms and made prominent use of electric guitars. Veloso projects intimacy in personal, deeply reflective songs such as those on his new album, Estrangeiro (Stranger). Gil, whose lyrics can range from overtly political to dreamily poetic, is a versatile stylist whose repertoire ranges from reggae to rock to electric variations onsamba.

Gal Costa, 43, whose unforced vocal range and sweet tones are the envy of her peers, has interpreted works ranging from bossa nova to tropicalismo to mainstream pop. Multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal, 50, coaxes music out of everything, it seems, from teapots to hubcaps to sewing machines. Singer- songwriters Djavan, 40, and Ivan Lins, 42, are purveyors of easygoing, soulful music in a sophisticated urban style. Djavan, who hails from the northeastern state of Alagoas, began making records in the mid-1970s; his most recent albums have included songs in English. Lins' songwriting is freighted with rich chord changes; like Djavan, Lins is aiming for mainstream crossover appeal abroad. With this in mind, he sings in English on this year's Love Dance, his latest album release.

The Brazilian star perhaps most widely admired abroad is Nascimento, who credits trumpeter Miles Davis, saxophonist John Coltrane and the Beatles as influences. In airy harmonies that resound with the church music of Minas Gerais, the state in east-central Brazil where he grew up, Nascimento writes uplifting sound poems full of yearning and determination. His music is infused with a near mystical celebration of life and love, coupled with a respect for nature that borders on animism. Ironically, Nascimento's records, as well as those of many of his popular colleagues, have been largely displaced on the radio playlists in their own country by the likes of Madonna, local crooners or the standard rock 'n' roll with Portuguese lyrics.

Oddly enough, some Brazilian purists fear that foreign enthusiasm for their music could corrupt it. Djavan, for one, has dismissed David Byrne's efforts as "inconsequential." Nascimento disagrees. "You're always trading ideas," he says. "It gives you life." Others are concerned that jaded outsiders will soon move on to something else. Anything is possible in the fickle pop-music world, but for now, musicians agree, it's Brazil that's got rhythm.

With reporting by Laura Lopez/Rio de Janeiro