Biography
For three decades and two years, Bule-Bule has stood as a genuine embodiment of Bahia’s rural samba and repente, the latter an art form built on verses and melodies created spontaneously in performance. His entire output honors the lineage of chulas do sertão, cocos, martelos, agalopados, xote, and marche de pé-de-serra while remaining steeped in Moorish and African traditions. A composer of cordéis, the inexpensive Northeast Brazilian pamphlets once displayed at fairs suspended from strings, he has operated far from the commercial music business, traveling instead as a cantador across the Northeastern backlands. His texts move freely among existential reflection, political commentary, and ecological concerns.
During the 1970s he gave open-air concerts in the squares of interior towns; in 1979 he made his first record, Cantadores da Pedra do Sol, alongside fellow Bahian singer Zé Pedreira. Although researchers and critics recognized the caliber of his writing, larger audiences outside Bahia remained unaware of his work. In 1993 the city of Salvador, capital of Bahia, conferred upon him the title of Honorary Citizen. He continues to write cordéis and to appear with his ensemble Cacimba Nova, carrying his music beyond Bahia’s borders and winning listeners as far away as São Paulo, where he recorded the 1995 album Fome e Vontade de Comer with Antônio Queirós. In 1997 he created the Instituto de Pesquisa, Estudo e Ensino da Cultura Popular do Nordeste (Ipecpon) to support investigation, instruction, and new projects devoted to Northeastern popular culture.
During the 1970s he gave open-air concerts in the squares of interior towns; in 1979 he made his first record, Cantadores da Pedra do Sol, alongside fellow Bahian singer Zé Pedreira. Although researchers and critics recognized the caliber of his writing, larger audiences outside Bahia remained unaware of his work. In 1993 the city of Salvador, capital of Bahia, conferred upon him the title of Honorary Citizen. He continues to write cordéis and to appear with his ensemble Cacimba Nova, carrying his music beyond Bahia’s borders and winning listeners as far away as São Paulo, where he recorded the 1995 album Fome e Vontade de Comer with Antônio Queirós. In 1997 he created the Instituto de Pesquisa, Estudo e Ensino da Cultura Popular do Nordeste (Ipecpon) to support investigation, instruction, and new projects devoted to Northeastern popular culture.
Albums
