Bahia is a center of musical innovation. The musicians there are famous for absorbing and blending rhythms, structures, and themes from all over Brazil and the world to enliven and expand their music. Bahia has acted as a melting pot of culture from surrounding regions, distilling elements of these cultures, including music, then spreading it throughout their country. Many of the great stars of Brazilian music scene came from Bahia, including João Gilberto, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Maria Bethânia, Gal Costa, and Tom Zé, not to mention numerous axé bands and singers.

Compared with Rio de Janeiro, Bahia has a more youthful and progressive music scene. The dyanamic music has a wide horizon of growth similar to that of rock and roll. New fricote and deboche dancing styles are constantly introduced.

Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia, has the largest black population outside Lagos, Nigeria. 80% of the population of Salvador is black, even though almost all of the government is light-skinned. Segregation of the races has generally been strict.

One cannot understand the musical culture of Bahia without recognizing the African pride movement (Movimento Negro or "Black Movement"). African pride is inseparable from the roots music of Salvador de Bahia. Throughout most of Brazilian history, expressions of African pride were suppressed. But, all along, black Brazilians have celebrated their African-ness or negritude, indirectly. Only recently, have black Salvadorans been able to celebrate negritude openly.

This page is focused on the bloco afro, musical and community groups born of the Movimento Negro.

For years Carnaval was celebated in the streets of Salvador during the week before Ash Wednesday. But, until the mid-Twentieth Century, the big events and parades were strictly for light-skinned people, only 10-20% of the population. Any attempts made by blacks to field entries into the parades were suppressed, sometimes with violence.

In 1949, an afoxê group, Filhos de Ghandi (Sons of Ghandi), began parading in the streets during Carnaval. Afoxê is a musical style out of the Candomblé tradition with a strong African ancestry. Filhos de Ghandi wore white turbans and blue and white clothes that imitated the apparel of the recently-slain Mahatma Ghandi. The outward message of the group was peace, but they were also associating Ghandi's movement of liberty in India with black freedom in Brazil. The most important distinction of Filhos de Ghandi was their acceptance by the authorities. It was a breakthrough in black participation in Carnaval.

In the 1950s, a new style of Carnaval perfomance emerged. Small bands would play frevo, a style of music out of Recife to the north of Bahia, atop a pickup truck, with speakers mounted to amplify them. These became known as trios elétricos (originally there were three musicians with electrical instruments). They evolved through the '60s, and eventually became huge, elborate rigs consisting of a semi truck pulling a wall of speakers and a platform on top where a singer and full band played. These dominate the main procession of Salvador Carnaval today.

Another way that black Bahians could express themselves was to identify with the Indians of North America. In the late '60s, blocos indios began marching dressed as American Indians, including warpaint. These groups, such as Apaches de Tororó (that's them in the background) and Comanches do Pelô, played a more-powerful style of percussion than Filhos de Ghandi. Their encounters with authorities were often violent, and eventually, most faded from the scene.

Still, most of the participants in the great parades of Salvador Carnaval were light-skinned. In 1974, a group called Ilê Aiyê ("House of Life") formed on the streets of Salvador. Fiercely proud of their Yoruba or Nagô (lower-Niger River culture) heritage, their membership was exclusively of dark-skinned blacks. They crashed the 1975 Carnaval event and paraded playing powerful Afro-rhythms. They were an uncompromising group, expressing their African pride more blatantly than anyone had before them. By this time, the Brazilian government was relaxing their repression of blacks and musical censorship. Ilê Aiyê would inspire many groups to follow.

One of the blocos inspired by Ilê Aiyê was Grupo Cultural do Olodum. From the former slave market town square of Pelourinho, Olodum became a cultural center and community support group as well as musical performers. They are also credited in the mid-'80s with the invention of samba reggae. Samba Reggae was a major point of departure of Bahia samba from the batucada styles of other Brazilian regions. The new form was a mixture of samba, Jamaican reggae, and other Brazilian and Caribbean styles. Like reggae, the rhythm emphasizes the upbeat, while the surdo bass drums imitate the characteristic reggae bass line. Olodum's lyric was political, singing about regions of Africa, the pharaohs of Eqypt, and proudly shouting "Nagô!" to the world. It was said that the long measure, an important characteristic of samba-reggae, allowed longer verses to fit the political messages.

Other groups formed blocos afros, including Badauê, Malê Debalê, Are Ketu, and Muzenza. These blocos march independently of the trios elétricos in huge masses of surdos and hand drums supporting dancers in African dress performing African dances. Increasingly, costumes were becoming more African, with dashikis, body paint, cowri shells, and warrior head dresses. Colors screamed pan-Africanism, with black, yellow, red, and green everywhere.

Although inspired by Ilê Aiyê, none of these other groups excluded light-skinned membership.

In the late 1980s , a new pop form, called axé music, hit the record charts. Axé combines samba reggae with rock, jazz, salsa, and other Latin rhythms. Many of the blocos afros formed subgroups of bandas who play axé in pop concerts and on the massive trios elétricos.

In the early '90s, Carlinhos Brown formed Timbalada, named for the new hand drum design called a timbal (timbau). Timbalada bridged the gap between bloco afro percussion music and axé. They played with a full band, including guitar, keyboards, horns, surdos, timbales, bacurinhas (small repiques) and of course timbals. Olodum, Are Ketu, and others also adopted the axé style. Since 1993, Timbalada has also marched as an afro bloco with only percussion.

Today, there are three kinds of mass performing participants in Salvador Carnaval: the pop trios elétricos, the afoxés (there has been a resurgence of late, centered on the revived Filhos de Ghandi), and the blocos afros.

Blocos are community organizations that represent and work with residents of a certain urban locale. One reason for their existence is the failure of their government to address the social problems of the community. The blocos answer this need through social programs and the development of community self-reliance.

Blocos are largely run by leaders of musical groups, which represent each of the blocos and provide them with an identity. Symbols of that identity include logos, performers costumes, the style of musical rhythm, and the bloco name itself, which is often chanted in the music.

Money is raised through CD and souvenir sales, and tours by the musical groups. Each year, the blocos, emblazoned with their associated colors, playing their particular rhythms, parade and compete in Carnaval. They also use their trio elétrico entries in Carnaval to promote their latest hits.

Blocos Afros

The following are five popular blocos in Salvador. Each represents a particular district or community within the city. The people of those communities feel a part of their respective blocos and follow them in a great mass during Carnaval. Each of these blocos is identified by symbols, colors, clothing, and unique instrumentation.

Ilê Aiyê
The first bloco afro was founded in 1974 in the Salvador district of Curuzu/Liberdade by Antonio Carlos "Vovô" ("Grandfather"). It was Vovô who developed many of the concepts that defined future blocos afros, inlcuding the concept that each bloco have its own sound. Vovô ceated Ilê Aiyê's first unique rhythm, influenced by the music of Candomblé.

Ilê Aiyê is one of the few afro blocos who have continued to perform with purely percussion and vocals. They also have not crossed over into performing pop songs. Their words and music still speak of Africa, negritude, and the orixás (Yoruba gods). Their colors are yellow, white, red, and black. Their designs feature simple, African-style drawings of people, animals, patterns, and symbols.

The dance style is West African, and the dancers wear beautiful outfits of loose, colorful cotton, corn-rolled hair, and shells. Surdos and hand drums (including Remo jembes and timbals) dominate the instrumentation, with the ever-present snare drum and leads on repiques. Ilê sometimes use agogô to integrate African bell patterns.

Like the other blocos afros that would follow, Ilê Aiyê provides social services to their community. Vovô is active in educating the young of Liberdade in a curriculum that takes an African, rather than European, perspective of history.

Malê Debalê
Like Ilê Aiyê, Malê Debalê has remained a traditional bloco afro, producing spiritual music of percussion and voice, and steering clear of pop music. They were founded in the community of Itapuã in 1979. Their music is powerful and political, with themes closer to the earthly issues facing black in Bahia than Ilê Aiyê's chants to the orixás. Because they represent a seaside community, one of the trademarks of this bloco is the use of water themes in their performances and music.

Malê Debalê fields upwards of 600 dancers and 150 percusionists in Carnaval. They are one of the most popular blocos. However, because of the increasing costs of participating in Salvador Carnaval and government indifference to the blocos afros, Malê Debalê remains one of the few traditional groups in Bahia. But the group can never be assured of participation in Carnaval because they refuse to become commercialized and satisfy sponsors.

Malê Debalê's colors are red, green, yellow, and black.

Olodum
Olodum is as notable for their community work as their music. They opened a center in the main square of Pelourinho that provides services for the community, including youth and drug programs. Every Tuesday evening they play in the square for a huge crowd, including international tourists, and on Sundays they have open rehearsals.

Residents of the Maciel-Pelourinho district of Salvado founded the group in 1979. Led by Neguinho do Samba (Antonio Luiz Alves de Souza), formerly mestre of Ilê Aiyê, Olodum helped revive the dilapidated, crime-ridden square of Perlourinho. Today, the square is a restored major tourist destination.

The invention of samba reggae is normally attributed to Neguinho do Samba about 1984. This new style came to the attentions of Paul Simon and Michael Jackson, among others, who featured them on CDs and music videos. The rhythm became the basis for "Swing da Cor", the song that broadened the popularity of axé in 1991.

Olodum's music evolved from percussion/voice-only samba reggae increasingly towards axé in the 1990s. They became less-political and moved more into the realm of pop axé. Many remember the pivotal moment as the song "Requebra" ("Shake your Booty") in the spring of 1993. The song was simple and repetitive and accompanied by a risque dance that demonstrated the lyrical content. This marked their departure from the sacred performances and dances that previously celebrated the orixás. Today, their concerts feature guitar, bass, keyboards, and brass, along with the timbales, repique, tarol, and five tightly-tuned surdos.

The band colors are black, yellow, red, and green, painted onto their trademark surdos.

Muzenza
This bloco was founded in 1982, and they are big followers of the Rastas in Jamaica. Their band colors are the green, black, and yellow of the Jamaican flag. The music today features a very wide range of styles, including samba reggae, axé, rock, hip-hop, and funk. Their name comes from a dance used in Candomblé used to call the god, Oxalá, orixá of mystery, wind, and bells.

Timbalada
Songwriter/singer/producer Carlinhos Brown formed Timbalada out of the Candeal ward in 1992. The initial group of 30 included members of Vai Quem Vem, who were featured on Sergio Mendez album, Brasileiro. Timbalada is not officially a bloco afro, but I have included them here, rather than create a separate section.

The distinctive instrument of Timbalada is its namesake, the timbal. This was a new (perhaps Brown) invention that imitated the jembe, but with more volume. Lightweight and cheap, it has become a favorite all over Brazil. Its most important feature is its loudness. It may be the loudest hand drum existence, an important requirement when competing with piercing stick drums such as repiques. Surdos also play a big role in Timbalada, along with timbales, shakers, and a new small repique called a bacurinha.

Today, Timbalada is extemely popular and their performances run a wide spectrum of musical styles and instrumental lineups, including stage band (featuring powerful horns), trio elétrico axé banda, and all-percussion bloco.

Here are some additional blocos afros from Salvador.

Blocos Afros in Rio

While the blocos afros originated in Salvador, they have spread to other cities, including Rio de Janeiro.

In the past, the festivals for Carnaval in Rio were performed by the poor for the poor (if such a division of "performer" and "audience" can be made) in celebration of body and soul, revelry and sexuality before the abstinence of Lent. See the 1959 film, Orfeo Negro (Black Orpheus) for an example. Increasingly, the parades in the Sambadrome have become extravagant and very commercial affairs, mostly enjoyed by the elite who can afford the expensive seats. The floats, costumes, and props have become so ostentatious and expensive that corporate sponsorship is now necessary to compete in Carnaval.

The blocos afros, including Agbara Dudu, Dudu Èwe (Èwe is another West African culture, also known as Jeje), Lemi Ayò, and Òrúnmìlá of Rio provide an alternative to the huge escolas de samba processions. They seek to get back to the roots of Carnaval, back to an event created by and for the common people (povo).

Musical & Visual Character

In general, Bahia bloco afro music has its unifying characteristics.

The foundation is the surdo, as in most bateria samba, but in Bahia, their role extends into providing complex beats and leads. The evolution of the surdo performance may be compared with the development of the bass guitar in 1960s rock music and 1970s reggae. Surdos usually make up a large proportion of the drums in a Bahia bateria. The role of the surdo even altered its form, metamophizing them towards a shallow, sleek shape with high tuning, quite distinct from their tall, calfskin-headed Rio cousins.

The rhythm is held by a tarol, which has a much smaller representation than the caixa in Rio samba. Shakers of various sorts, especially the xekerê, also support the rhythm. Bells are rather uncommon, except in the bands with a strong African sound.

Perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of Bahia in the bateria samba world is the use of the hand drum. Timbals and jembes are ubiquitous in bloco afro samba. Timbalada marches in Salvador Carnaval with a huge army of timbal players. Mixed in with these are repiques, bacurinhas, and timbales. All provide sharp, cracking leads, and the chopping upbeat borrowed from reggae.

The berimbau sometimes makes an appearance in Bahia samba, though only when the band is miked. The pandeiro is also evident on many recordings.

The arrangement in Bahia has evolved much over the past 15 years, and there are many variations unique to individual bands. An important concept is that each band becomes associated with its particular instrumentation (for instance Timbalada and the timbal, Olodum and timbales), musical style (including intros), costuming, and name, which they mention constantly throughout their verses.

However, even though bands have visual identities, the colors are not as strictly adhered to as in the Rio escolas. Olodum may march with their standard black, red, green, and yellow drums, but their costumes may be blue, yellow, and white. Some blocos, like Timbalada, have no particular identifying colors.

In most cases, women are the dancers and singers of the blocos. Costumes and many dance styles reflect African heritage.

One of Ilê Aiyê's aims is to combat the general Brazilian (and world) notion that beauty and glamor are the realm of light-skinned women. They promote the idea of beleza negra, or "black beauty". Each year, they hold a beauty contest of dark-skinned, African-featured women. It is one of their biggest annual events.

Generally, the division between men and women in the Salvador blocos is clearly defined. When performing, men play drums or sing and women dance or sing. This emulates the communities and the social roles in their ancestral lands, where the gender roles are integral to their rituals, entertainment, government, and homelife. In some cases, it is due to practicality. Some of the drumming requires a lot of strength and stamina. While Olodum does not perform onstage with female surdo bass drum players, they do feature women on timbales and snare.

Most of the time, there isn't much crossover among the bloco afro performing groups, especially a very traditional group, such as Ilê Aiyê. However, this is changing. As with much of world drumming, women are making inroads into an often male-dominated actitivity. Gradually, women are slipping in among the ranks of Carnaval drummers, even wearing the large, heavy surdos for hours.

Another way for women to break into drumming is the all-female group or banda feminina. One such example is Didá, a girl group developed by Olodum founder Neguino do Samba. Much like Olodum, Didá is a community group that helps youth with health, education, job placement, and drug problems. Only, in this case, the community is made up of girls and young women. They also have a performance group that regularly participates in the grand parades of Salvador Carnaval, plays stage shows, and has a popular CD.

A Mujherada is another banda feminina that regularly parades in Salvador Carnaval. This group's main concern is dealing with women's issues, like sexual abuse, domestic violence, and international sexual tourism of children. But they also have a bateria of young musicians who, judging by their smiles, really love beating drums.

Salvador Carnaval

Carnaval is a celebrated by Catholic cultures in the weeks before Lent, which lasts from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. Lent is a time when observers abstain from "vices", like drinking alcohol, smoking, sex, and eating certain foods. In anticipation of this abstinence, Catholics compensate by engaging in a period of hedonistic activity in the days leading up to Lent. In Brazil, it is known as Carnaval. It is also known in French- and Spanish-speaking cultures as Mardis Gras and Carnival, respectively.

There are usually six nights of Carnaval events in Salvador, from Thursday until Fat Tuesday. Each bloco may perform on half of those nights, lasting until daybreak. In each procession are floats, dancers on foot, the deafening 40' trio elétrico truck, and then the bloco afro drummers marching on foot. All of this is followed by thousands of fans who pay a fee to wear the bloco's shirt and parade behind them.

The spectacle is not as ostentatious or complex as the Sambadrome parades in Rio. In spite of the elaborate trio elétrico, there is a sense that the performers are closer to the people. The feeling is youthful and progressive, even if the commercialism is there in reality. But the accessibilty gives some of the atmosphere of the old days of the Rio Carnaval, where the line between performer and spectator was blurred. Everyone can feel like a participant.

The traditional route is from Campo Grande Square to Praça Castro Alve in the old section of town along Avenida 7 de Setembro, then back again along Rua Carlos Gomes. The blocos are judged as they pass the grandstand at Campo Grande.

There is another route along the waterfront, from Barra to Ondina. This is the route for the blocos alternativos, including Timbalada.

Candomblé

We can't leave Bahia and the blocos afros without mentioning Candomblé, a major influence on the Movimento Negro.

Candomblé is a religion and culture derived from the Niger River Basin in West Africa. It is closely associated with Bahia, where the first temple was built in the early 19th Century. Today, it is one of the fastest growing faiths in Brazil. Nowhere is this more true than in Bahia, where the African Pride movement is so strong.

The deities of Candomblé are called orixás (orishas), who protect and assist their human devotees. There is supreme god, named Olodumaré, namesake of the bloco, Olodum. Although the Catholic government of Brazil has historically banned the practice of Candomblé, followers of the religion noticed a strong similarity between the orixás and the Catholic saints. This allowed them to disguise their deities as saints and pray to them under the mask of Catholic practice.

Candomblé ceremonies are dances to honor the orixás. During the ceremony, which can last all night, the dancers fall into a trance, and the axé, or spiritual life force, of an orixá possesses the dancer's body. The rhythms and dances of Candomblé are specific to each of the orixás. Rituals are performed in the West African Yoruba language.

Most Candomblé music is centered on atabaque hand drums, which are similar to congas. The music and lyrical themes of the Salvador blocos have been heavily influenced by Candomblé, including the invocation of the orixás. Ilê Aiyê, in particular, incorporate Candomblé rhythms and themes into their music.

There is a Candomblé ritual sequence in the film, Orfeo Negro (Black Orpheus).