Timbalada - Carlinhos Brown

Carlinhos Brown is the most remarkable among the Bahian musicians who took  traditional Afro-Brazilian drumming, and sets it to pop beat, with electric guitars and a brass section. The sound is infectious, and it is largely responsible for Salvador's millions of visitors annualy, tourists on musical pilgrimages.  Among his Timbalada innovation were reviving the nearly-extinct timbal (a tall, high-pitched hand drum). Timbalada also developed a rack of 3 surdos and 1 repinique that could be mounted on a stage and played by a single player. This device is known as a "bateria de surdo", a drumset of surdos. (The 3rd and 4th surdo parts were combined in a single drum.)

Timbalada has many parts, including a stage band and enjoys defying being a typical Carnival street bloco. Their music is considered to be a blend of samba-reggae with African elements. Based in the neighborhood of Candeal, Timbalada is also a neighborhood association with a social mission that includes educational projects, and aid to street children.

One of 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 founder and director of Timbalada has also maintained a busy solo musical career. A prolific and eclectic performer, Brown often collaborates with other musicians on their projects

Brasileiro is a 1992 CD by Sergio Mendes which won the 1993 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album. 5 of the 12 tracks were composed, arranged and performed by Carlinhos Brown

"In the hands of Mestre Pintado, by his side in nights of revelry in the bars and shows of the effervescent Salvador of the 70s, Carlinhos left the Candeal to enjoy the rich camaraderie of the varied musical scene of the festivals sponsored by the city’s high schools. Ever since he has been attracting the attention of all around him, both as a musician and as a composer because of his innate skill in the art of fusing and rediscovering sounds and creating percussion. "It was in the streets of Salvador amidst the music and dances of those streets that he acquires the nickname that would become his trademark: Carlinhos Brown, borrowed from the musician James Brown and from the militant H. Rap Brown – Black Panther, Carlinhos himself being a mixture of musician and militant of no particular race but of a rich cultural multiplicity. Carlinhos Brown’s music is all encompassing. It reaches out in communication not because music itself is a universal language but because his music is visceral and spiritual, because its sounds echo in the wind, in all four directions of the compass, rising straight from the roots of Earth itself."

--from official web site Jan-2009 carlinhosbrown.com.br/

The son of a candomblé practitioner, he changed his name from Antonio Carlos Santos Freita to Carlinhos Brown after the name of his idol, James Brown, the godfather of American soul music as a teenager.

Two musicians who represented opposite musical extremes had a tremendous influence on Brown’s development. First, there was Osvaldo Alves da Silva, known as the Master Pintado do Bongo, who introduced Brown to the world of percussion and rhythmic precision. A member of the Ketu tribe, he passed on all this knowledge to his disciple, from the tambourine to the small drum and from the small drum to the Reco-Reco. For Brown, da Silva represented musical exactitude and perfection.

The second musician who influenced Brown greatly was Fialuna. An artist with Angolan roots, Fialuna represented the street, the fun, and the noise of the atabaque. From then on, Brown was deeply involved in the Salvadoran music scene.

A fast learner, Brown quickly mastered all the percussion instruments he had access to and began performing professionally. "At 17, I started playing and being paid for it," Brown is quoted as saying. "I played in samba groups, in nightclubs where they regulate underage people. So I just hid under the table when the authorities came."

He opened himself to new musical experiences and began to make a place for himself in the world of music. At the WR studios in Bahia in the early 1980s, Brown learned to play instruments he had never encountered before and acquired production techniques by composing jingles for commercials.

Brown's talent in the musical world of Salvador Bahia had been spotted early and he was soon playing with top tier local musicians  like Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, and  Djavan. His reputation as a percussion maestro became international when Brown won had won an invitation to back Sergio Mendes on the Grammy winning album Brasilero. He then founded the percussion troupe and neighborhood social organization Timbalada

Brown acknowledges the importance of Ile Aye but he has a different message. "I want people to be able to learn from this, from the hundreds, thousands of years of our history, our ethnic background, and to find a better way. I want people to rediscover happiness." he first told Dan Rosenberg for the November 1997 issue of Rhythm Music Magazine and is still very much the case today.

On June 22, 2004, Shanachie Entertainment issued Carlinhos Brown on its World Music Portraits DVD series. Carlinhos believes that his music speaks to all people.  He explains, "I believe that my music will cross borders, because it is a music open to the world, open to everyone." Carlinhos Brown, a film by Claude Santiago,  invites viewers to experience a revealing look at the beautiful and vibrant culture that has cultivated the now international star.

Carlinos Brown is a percussionist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and cultural/social activist. Well over 30 of his compositions have topped the charts in Brazil, and more than 200 of his songs have been recorded. As a solo artist, Brown released his first album, Alfagamabetizado, in 1997.

"And what might surprise Americans is that Brazilian music has always been inside American music, and the other way around. I believe that funk was influenced by candomblé, because the rhythm is very much like it. I think that all these rhythms--dance, jungle--are very similar to what we have been doing in Brazil. Techno is an electronic samba school, the beats, the rhythms. What changes is the research that musicians do and their own tendencies. Music is still the mine that has not yet been drilled enough. Maybe only softness or kindness can reach these precious stones."

He has long reigned with Ivete Sangalo as Salvador Carnaval's biggest star.  He is certainly the flashiest dresser and his Carnaval group  gives hope that Salvador might some day attempt to challenge Rio de Janeiro for Carnaval costumes.

Along with the Olodum collective, Brown's band, Timbalada has been among the most influential bands in Salvadror's historic  bloco-afro scene. Like Olodum, Timbalada and Carlinhos Brown have moved far deeper into mainstream pop style which some fans dislike but keeps Timbalada one of the most popular groups in Brazil. Afro-Brazilian beats, rock, funk, electronica, strings and reggae all unite to evoke the true spirit of Salvador Bahia.