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Mestre Giba Gonçalves, Founder of Batala

Batala in Washington, D.C. is part of a larger Batala family created in 1997 by Mestre Giba Gonçalves. Born and raised in Salvador, Bahia in Northeast Brazil, Giba was living in Paris when he first had the idea for creating the band. He opened the band to anyone with an interest in learning the samba-reggae beat, starting off with 60 people.

From Paris, Batala spread to other cities in France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. In 2003, the band finally made its way back to Brazil by Paulo Garcia, also the founder of Batala Portsmouth in the UK. Composer and musical director, Giba enlisted the help of friends from the various bands and from Salvador in order to create the visual identity of the band. The instruments and clothings are all manufactured in Salvador, Bahia, where the band has a social program that gives jobs to many families. From there they are shipped to the bands around the world.

In 2007, Batala expanded its reach to the United States when Batala Washington became the first band created in North America and also the first Batala band with all female members from its leadership to its members. Today, Batala Mundo (the worldwide conglomerate of Batala bands) has over hundreds of percussionists members around the world.

“I think music has no frontiers. You don’t deny access. It’s like your children, you shouldn’t keep your children for yourself. You should give them to the world.” — Mestre Giba Gonçalves

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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.

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Mãe Stella de Oxóssi

Born on May 2, 1925, in Salvador, Bahia, Maria Stella de Azevedo Santos (also known as Mãe Stella de Oxóssi or Mãe Stella) is the first black woman and first iyalorixá (orixá priestess) to be inducted into the Bahia Academy of Letters. Though a retired nurse, she has written many books on African culture and widely promotes and advocates for the acceptance of Candomblé as a religion and of African-based culture across Brazil.

On March 19, 1976, she was chosen to be the 5th iyalorixá of the Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá, one of the more well-known terreiros in Salvador. In the late 70s, Mãe Stella personally appealed to the governor of Bahia to no longer require a terreiro to obtain the government’s permission to operate. Since then, terreiros have sprung up all over Salvador.

As a champion against religious intolerance and racial prejudice, Mãe Stella also sounded the call for a break with Christian syncretism and the removal of all Catholic saints from the temple’s altars. Preferring the Yorubá title iyalorixá, as opposed to the Portuguese mãe de santo, she encouraged the use of Yorubá in liturgy in naming practices, Candomblé education, and depiction of icons in order to restore Candomblé back to its African roots.  It was Mãe Stella who, quite successfully, sought public recognition of Candomblé as a full fledged, legitimate religion, rather than a “cult”, “sect”, or “folklore”.

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Margareth Menezes

Born Margareth Menezes da Purificação, on October 13, 1962, in Boa Viagem, the Peninsula region of Itapagipe in Salvador. She is an internationally known, award-winning Brazilian pop star, but her music genre is predominantly the axé, samba-reggae, and samba-funk music of Bahia. From an early age, Menezes was surrounded by music, through her family’s love for it, and in her teens she began performing in the trios elétricos in Bahia’s Carnaval. In 1985, at the age of 21, she won the Troféu Caymmi for the Best Female Performer of Bahia, and she would win it again in the 1990s along with the Troféu Imprensa. Four years later, she recorded her first solo album dedicated to Bahian grooves. Her second album, Elegibô (Uma Historia de Ifá), stayed in first place for 11 weeks on the American charts in the World Music category. It was also awarded by Billboard magazine and Rolling Stone magazine appointed the album as one of the five best in the world in the same category. Other big hits include Me Abraça e Me Beija and Kindala. She is credited and appreciated for bringing the music of Bahia to the world.