Luiz Caldas

Luiz Caldas joined forces with Sarajane to lay the groundwork for axé music, whose sweeping national popularity dismantled the long-standing monopoly held by phonographic output from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Released on WR in 1985, his album Magia moved 380,000 units and drew numerous trio elétrico ensembles into the style, which quickly matured into a robust commercial sector supporting many performers. Wesley Rangel launched the WR recording facility in Salvador during 1975 and enlisted Caldas to compose and track jingles aimed at the regional market. By then Caldas had already spent years as a seasoned lead singer and multi-instrumentalist immersed in Carnival circles, serving as the official puxador for the Bloco de trio Camaleão, a group that also employed Carlinhos Brown. Throughout the 1980s he integrated his own ensemble, Acordes Verdes, into studio sessions, imprinting a distinctive sonic character on the productions. Concurrently he assumed vocal duties for the Bloco de trio Beijo, where he cut a percussively rearranged version of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson.” That track gained modest traction before yielding to the broader impact of “Fricote” (“Nega do Cabelo Duro”), written by Caldas and Paulinho Camafeu; after Sarajane’s original recording, Caldas’s interpretation propelled the song to nationwide recognition. Magia paved the way for an extensive national tour and a three-album contract with PolyGram, now known as Universal. Most significantly, the recordings fused the percussive force of Afro-Blocos drumming with the bass, guitar, and keyboard textures typical of the Blocos de trio, an approach swiftly adopted by other bandas de trio throughout Salvador and thereby inaugurating the axé music genre.