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Gilberto Gil

Born Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira in Salvador, Bahia, Gilberto Gil began playing music professionally as a teenager when he joined his first band. Although he grew up listening to the forró music of his native northeast region, he started out making music in the Bossa Nova music genre. He later became a pioneer in the Tropicália and Música Popular Brasileira (MPB) musical movements that emerged in the 1960s when he started to focus the lyrics of his songs on politics and social awareness. While exiled to London by Brazil’s military government in 1969, Gil became exposed to Jamaican reggae. Upon returning back to Salvador in 1972, Afro-Bahian afoxé groups and the samba-reggae sounds were emerging and Gil joined the Filhos de Gandhi afoxé. He later worked with Jamaican reggae artist, Jimmy Cliff, who he had encountered earlier in London, to recreate the classic Bob Marley song, “No Woman No Cry,” which introduced reggae to Brazil. He is a classic timeless, musician who has had a long career, perhaps, because he is well-known for his musical adaptability and diversity with his ability to blend music styles.

While maintaining a full-time music career, Gilberto Gil was also actively working the political scene to advocating for environmental protection. In 2003, under the Lula da Silva administration, he was appointed Brazil’s Minister of Culture, becoming only the second black person to serve in the nation’s cabinet.

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Axé Music

Axé (pronounced ah-SHAY) music is a pop music genre originating in Salvador, Bahia around the mid 1980s out of the samba-reggae sound of the afro-blocos and trio elétricos of Carnaval. It mixes different Afro-Caribbean genres such as reggae, calypso, merengue, and marcha with Brazilian sounds such as forró, frevo, afoxé, and carixada. Some of the most important musicians of this genre that have taken axé music all over the world are Carlinhos Brown, Luiz Caldas, Chiclete com Banana, Ivete Sangalo, Daniela Mercury, Claudia Leitte, and Margareth Menezes to name just a few. The word “axé” comes from a Yoruba religious greeting used in the Candomblé and Umbanda religions that can loosely translate to mean “soul”, “light”, “spirit” or “good vibration”.

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Samba-Reggae

Samba-Reggae is a music genre that was created in Salvador, Bahia by Afro-Brazilians during the 1970s and 80s as an extension of the Black Pride movement. Through a mixture of Jamaican reggae and Brazilian samba, samba-reggae was born. The first bloco-afro to showcase samba-reggae was Ilê Aiyê, which was created in 1974 and was significant in returning samba to its African roots and identity while establishing a carnival parade in Salvador that Afro-Brazilians could call their own since Black Brazilians were not allowed to participate in many of the Rio samba schools for carnival in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1979, the second bloco, Olodum, was led by Mestre Neguinho do Samba. Mestre Neguinho do Samba was also a former drum leader of Ilê Aiyê and he he eliminated the old-style hand and stick style of playing the repinique drum which now plays fast beats with two sticks like the style played in the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé. Following Olodum was Timbalada, which is a bloco-afro-that was directed by Carlinhos Brown who brought back the playing of the timbal drum, which was nearly extinct.

Because of these three groups, samba reggae bands such as Didá, Cortejo Afro, of course Batalá, and many others came into existence and created their own samba-reggae rhythms. Through samba-reggae (also known as Afro-Reggae), music genres such as Axé came along and until this very day samba-reggae inspires many people to create, live, and love.

Listen to the sounds and watch the images in this documentary about the birth of samba-reggae. There are no English subtitles, but the music speaks for itself.