Carlinhos Brown Official Website
Timbalada
"Timbalada is not a carnival institution; it is a spiritual entity, a miscegenated caboclo manifestation, a labu laba ladainha (ladainha: sung litany). I was lucky, at the end of the millennium, that Timbalada was born- or reborn- into my hands. We wanted to take the timbau and bring it into a context of social re-approximation, because it was a marginalized instrument. The movement became larger and we created a language that the instrument didn’t yet have. Timbalada is something from Bahia, but it wasn’t something that had previously existed within the Bahian rhythmic tradition. It shocked people. The timbau adapted itself to this language because it began to accumulate rhythmic cells, creating fusions and bringing all of this to the great mantras of the drums playing on the streets. Timbalada was not created only with the intention of shocking, but also to re-claim Angolan culture in Bahia. My source for rhythmic inspiration is day to day life, it is music from life. Now in the lyrics, which is something more grounded, in order to write I find inspiration not only in daily life but in experiences and in references that I have seen and that I liked. In terms of the songs I don’t have control over them. They come from above. And the best ones come to me while I’m sleeping.
How many calluses does it take to make a timbaleiro? For someone to become one, it is necessary to follow a doctrine- it’s not enough to just show up and play the timbau. I don’t know in what direction Timbalada will go, but I believe it will go far. Today, wherever there is a timbau, there is also Timbalada." Carlinhos Brown.
BANDA TIMBALADA
The Timbalada Band, already nationally renowned, emerged during the end of the 80s, founded by Carlinhos Brown, who adopted a new musical instrument: the timbau. Timbalada was born through struggle, as the founder himself points out, with the objective of offering a ‘social motivation service’, a new rhythm using the sound of percussion, in order to re-claim the timbau and take it to the streets. And he did it. Brown’s versatility is also evident in the band itself, which is formed by an average of 29 musicians playing keyboard, guitar, timbau, surdo, bacurinhas (instrument created by him similar to the two headed drum, repique) and a set of metal instruments. In order to preserve the band’s independence, Brown has stopped performing with them.
BLOCO TIMBALADA
Timbalada bloco (carnival group) was founded on November 4, 1994, coming out for the first time in 1995, on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday of Carnival in the Barra/Ondina circuit in Salvador, Bahia. The abadás (carnival attire sold by each group) quickly sold out and the already established success of the band was passed on to the bloco, which came in first place during that year’s carnival competition. From that point on, Timbalada won the Troféu Bahia Folia (Bahia Carnival Trophy) three times in a row for best alternative bloco. Another characteristic of carnival’s congregation is that of bringing together famous figures from artistic and intellectual circles in addition to the most diverse types of carnival participants (foliões) from throughout Brazil and abroad.
