Salvador: it's pop and it's proud
Samba-reggae, axé, frevo, funk made in Rio and electronica could be heard from the trios elétricos on the capital of Bahia
Tom Cardoso
01/03/2001
Like it or not, carnival in Salvador is quite the democratic party. During the six-day celebration, just about everything comes out of the speakers on the trios elétricos: from Nirvana to Julio Iglesias and Ara Ketu.
While Pernambuco makes a more orthodox party, even avoiding axé music (because it is made in Bahia), the people in Salvador seem to be proud of being pop. The trio Expresso 2222, led by Gilberto Gil, was a good surprise. Marina Lima, Daniela Mercury, Jorge Ben Jor, Ney Matogrosso, Caetano Veloso, (Cidade Negra vocalist) Tony Garrido and Elba Ramalho were all there. The best part is that the trio is independent, and anyone can join in, as opposed to most of the trios in Salvador, which charge yearly fees for the people who want to participate.
There is strong evidence that the carnival in Bahia will go back to being what it was in the 70s, when all of the trios were independent. Daniela Mercury has decided to go indie, next year, as Margareth Menezes has done for many years. In 2001, Margareth managed to gather Caetano, Gil, Maria Bethânia and Gal Costa on her trio. The quartet did Dorival Caymmi songs.
An ecologically correct trio called Ecotrio innovated and presented Rebeca Matta (the only electronic music artist to come out of Bahia, so far), Davi Moraes (son of Moraes Moreira), producer Arto Lindsay, Lucas Santanna and Carlinhos Brown.
The rest was more of the same. Chiclete com Banana, Banda Eva, Terra Samba, Asa de Águia, Ara Ketu, Ivete Sangalo, Ricardo Chaves, all of them did the exact same repertoire, which would include a bit of funk carioca (made in Rio), a little pagode and lot of axé. Still, carnival in Salvador is growing every year. New spaces must be created in 2002, because the city cannot fit more than the 2 million visitors that showed up in 2001.
While Pernambuco makes a more orthodox party, even avoiding axé music (because it is made in Bahia), the people in Salvador seem to be proud of being pop. The trio Expresso 2222, led by Gilberto Gil, was a good surprise. Marina Lima, Daniela Mercury, Jorge Ben Jor, Ney Matogrosso, Caetano Veloso, (Cidade Negra vocalist) Tony Garrido and Elba Ramalho were all there. The best part is that the trio is independent, and anyone can join in, as opposed to most of the trios in Salvador, which charge yearly fees for the people who want to participate.
There is strong evidence that the carnival in Bahia will go back to being what it was in the 70s, when all of the trios were independent. Daniela Mercury has decided to go indie, next year, as Margareth Menezes has done for many years. In 2001, Margareth managed to gather Caetano, Gil, Maria Bethânia and Gal Costa on her trio. The quartet did Dorival Caymmi songs.
An ecologically correct trio called Ecotrio innovated and presented Rebeca Matta (the only electronic music artist to come out of Bahia, so far), Davi Moraes (son of Moraes Moreira), producer Arto Lindsay, Lucas Santanna and Carlinhos Brown.
The rest was more of the same. Chiclete com Banana, Banda Eva, Terra Samba, Asa de Águia, Ara Ketu, Ivete Sangalo, Ricardo Chaves, all of them did the exact same repertoire, which would include a bit of funk carioca (made in Rio), a little pagode and lot of axé. Still, carnival in Salvador is growing every year. New spaces must be created in 2002, because the city cannot fit more than the 2 million visitors that showed up in 2001.