Timbalada

Carlinhos Brown assembled Timbalada in Salvador’s Candeal district of Bahia to explore the timbau—a candomblé-derived drum—in an Afro-pop context that fused local Bahian grooves with Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. The ensemble also featured vocalists and cultivated a striking visual identity through body painting and assorted pop motifs that juxtaposed tribal and industrial elements. Functioning simultaneously as a conventional band and a Carnaval bloco, Timbalada drew growing Sunday-afternoon crowds to the economically disadvantaged neighborhood, thereby placing Candeal on Salvador’s musical landscape; once the group succeeded, the timbau became standard equipment in every samba-reggae bateria. The lineup itself signaled a deliberate break from traditional percussive blocos in favor of a hybrid pop configuration comprising three singers, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, keyboards, bass, guitar, drums, ten timbaus, five marcações, one repique, two timbales, and an Afro drum kit known as the percuteria.

Established in 1992, the collective appeared at Salvador’s Carnaval that year backed by two hundred timbaus and additional instruments. Their debut album, issued in 1993, contained the hit tracks “Beija-flor” and “Canto pro Mar.” Later the same year they played Aracaju in Sergipe and São Paulo while receiving frequent invitations to prominent television programs that heightened their visibility. Subsequent appearances at the Montreux Jazz Festival led to the Holland Festival and further European engagements. In 1996 Timbalada received the Prêmio Sharp for the album Mineral before undertaking concerts in Japan. July 2000 brought a performance before two hundred thousand spectators at the Montreal International Jazz Festival in Canada.