Antonio Carlos Santos Freita (Carlinhos Brown) was born November 22, 1962 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. In the mid-1960s in Candeal Pequeno, not far from Brotas, Renato and Madalena watched the first steps of their elder son with admiration. In the Rosa house, right at the top of the town, Antonio Carlos was brought up in a family of eight children living in an area with little wealth but full of love and music.
At an early age, Carlinhos was passionate about rhythm. Carlinhos was attracted by the many Salvadoran feasts. Up and down the town, he was in every place where music was played, listening and dreaming.
As a teenager, 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. This childhood filled with music and freedom (he only attended primary school) was followed by two important encounters that shaped the life and future career of Carlinhos Brown.
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, fun, and the noise of the atabaque. From then on, Brown was deeply involved in the Salvadoran music scene.
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.
He also performed as a percussionist with different Salvadoran bands. But even at this early stage in his career, Brown was already growing restless. He needed to see more, to know more, so he set himself to the difficult task of collecting and codifying all the rhythms scattered throughout the region of Bahia. In 1984, Brown joined the Banda Acordes Verdes as a percussionist.
He also began composing pieces for other musicians, including Luis Caldas, for whom Brown wrote the radio hit “Visao Ciclope.” Soon after that success, “Remexer,” “O Coco,” and “E Difficil,” all written by Brown and sung by other artists, reached the top of the charts. This was the beginning of a stunningly successful career as a songwriter.
In the following years, Brown wrote 26 songs that reached number one on the charts, a phenomenon that won him the Caymmi Trophy, the highest musical distinction in Bahia. By the mid-1980s, the general public and music producers began to recognize Brown as a highly talented artist.
In 1988 and 1989, he performed as a percussionist with Caetano Veloso and Djavan. During the first series of concerts he gave with Veloso, Brown used a bucket, a watering can, and a dustbin as percussion instruments.
He also performed on worldwide tours with Joao Gilberto, Joao Bosco, and Djavan. He composed songs for Gal Costa, Cassia Eller, Nando Reis, Daniela Mercury, Herbert Vianna, Marisa Monte and also recorded duets with some of them. But Brown still needed more, and he began to reach beyond Latin America. He appeared on Bahia Black: Ritual Beating System, an album produced by Bill Laswell that mixed traditional Brazilian music with funk and jazz and paired Carlinhos with legendary jazz musicians Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock.
In 1993, Brazilian artist Sergio Mendes won the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album with Brasileiro. It was a triumph for Brown as well: he composed five of the twelve songs on the award-winning album. The most surprising collaboration Brown has been involved in is with Sepultura, Brazil’s heavy metal band. On their album, Roots, (March 1996), Brown composed and performed on three tracks (“Ratamahatta,” “Dictatorshit,” and “Endangered Species”). There is no doubt that Brown is one of the most creative Brazilian artists of his generation.
In 1996, Carlinhos recorded his first major solo effort, Alfagamabetizado. Carlinhos Brown is also the founder of the acclaimed Timbalada, one of Bahia’s most popular bands featuring 120 different instrumentalists and singers. Based in Carlinhos’ native Candeal, Timbalada is also a community association that has developed many educational and cultural programs for the children in the community.
In 2002, Carlinhos Brown formed a supergroup called Tribalistas, along with Arnaldo Antunes (Titãs) and Marisa Monte. They released a critically acclaimed debut album titled Tribalistas in 2002.
On June 22, 2004, Shanachie Entertainment released 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. As Carlinhos walks the streets of his native Candeal, he is greeted by residents and children who revere him as a community hero. Carlinhos Brown not only exposes Carlinhos Brown the man but also showcases Carlinhos the electrifying performer. He has a remarkable ability to conjure up a tornado of mind blowing poly-rhythms on everything from a plastic bucket to a tin can. He says, “I was born to play drums. I cultivate rhythms. My head is like a museum.”
On stage, Carlinhos’ attire is often as show-stopping as his music. From his stunning long dreadlocks to wearing gigantic rubber pacifiers and soda can tab earrings, Carlinhos has a commanding presence. A high point on Carlinhos Brown is a live show in Salvador, Bahia in front of 50,000 enthusiastic fans. Carlinhos gives exhilarating performances of such songs as “Uma Brasileira” “Segue 0 Seco” “Vide Gal” and his world music hit “A Namorada,” which was featured in the Sandra Bullock blockbuster Speed 2.
Known as “Carlitos Marron” in Spain, in 2004 and 2005, Brown promoted Spain’s first street carnivals outside Brazil with his trio elétrico (trucks equipped with high power sound system, carrying performing bands.) He drew 4 million people in Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla.
Carlinhos was the headliner of the 26th Brazilian Day, September 5, 2010, in New York City and also headlined the first edition of Brazilian Day in Madrid, Spain, on September 11, 2010. He was also featured in the kick-off song for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
In 2017, Carlinhos and his colleagues returned with the Tribalistas project with another album titled Tribalistas.
A passionate activist and advocate for social projects, Carlinhos created “Tá Rebocado” in in Candeal. “Tá Rebocado” is an urbanization and sanitation project. In 2002 it received the UN-Habitat Certificate of Best Practices in Human Settlements Programme. Brown also created the umbrella organization, Associação Pracatum Ação Social. While known as one of Bahia’s best music schools, the Pracatum is also a resource center that offers professional courses in fashion, sewing, and recycling. It also promotes many aspects of cultural studies including language studies and capoeira workshops. The projects have many major partners such as Brazil’s Ministries of Education and Labor and UNESCO.
An artist with vast international acclaim, Carlinhos has received several international awards: the “12 Months, 12 Causes of Telecinco” (Spain, 2007); three Latin Grammys (USA, 2003, 2004 and 2006); the Goya Award (Spain, 2005); and several more including the “Messenger of Truth,” title by the United Nations (UN).
Today, Brown is one of the most popular and respected Brazilian artists in the world, especially throughout Spain, France, Italy and Germany. Brown has collaborated with Norah Jones, Black Eyed Peas, Carlos Santana, Ricky Martin, Lee Ritenour, Bill Laswell, Wayne Shorter, Jovanotti, Sergio Mendes, Angelique Kidjo, Kazufumi Miyazawa, Omara Portuondo, and Ornella Vanoni.
Discography:
Alfagamabetizado (Blue Note, 1996)
Omelete Man (Blue Note, 1998)
Bahia do Mundo, Mito e Verdade (Blue Note, 2001)
Tribalistas (EMI, 2002)
Carlinhos Brown é Carlito Marrón (Blue Note, 2003)
Candyall Beat (Vale, 2004)
A Gente Ainda Não Sonhou (Sony BMG, 2007)
Adobró (Sony BMG, 2010)
Diminuto (Sony BMG, 2010)
Mixturada Brasileira (2012)
Marabó (2014)
Vibraaasil (2014)
Sarau du Brown (2015)
Tribalistas (Universal, 2017)
DVDs
Carlinhos Brown DVD (Shanachie, 2004)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
