Phenomenally successful Brazilian songwriter Carlinhos Brown was born Antonio Carlos Santos Freita in Salvador, Bahia in the mid-60's. At 13 changed his name to reflect his adoration of James Brown.



Initially working as a percussionist, his composing abilities came to light after he began writing commercial jingles for a radio station; hits for a variety of Brazilian stars followed, mostly using heavy Afro-Brazilian drumming but also some lighter pop.



He soon set up Timbalada, a bloco-afro group (a large ensemble consisting of guitar, keyboards and a hundred or more percussionists) along the lines of Olodum. Hits kept piling up - he charted at least thirty compositions during the decade - and in 1997 he finally released a solo project that conclusively demonstrated the breadth of his talents, including his seldom-heard singing voice.



Carlinhos Brown can make absolutely anything into a percussion instrument, and his voracious appetite for new sounds results in wide-ranging, pan-rhythmic, invigorating music.





It is impossible to go anywhere today in Brazil without hearing the music of Carlinhos Brown. His name is almost synonymous with music. Carlinhos Brown says he is a workaholic, if you can call singing, drumming, writing and dancing "work". In addition to his band Timbalada, and his solo record, Alfagamabetizado, he has been collaborating with artists from all over Brazil: Daniela Mercury, Marisa Monte, Sergio Mendes, and even the rock group Sepultura. 30 of Brown's compositions have topped the Brazilian charts over the past decade. If you flip on the television, you'll see him dancing, and of course, drumming around Toyotas. The one constant: the Bahian sound, a mix of Afro-Brazilian percussion with a touch of a reggae beat. Carlinhos Brown is one of the leaders of a movement that takes the traditional Afro-Brazilian drumming, and sets it to pop beat, with electric guitars and a brass section. The sound is infectious, and it is largely responsible for Salvador's millions of visitors annualy, tourists on musical pilgrimages.



Carlinhos Brown began drumming as a child. No, there weren't any drum kits. As many children in Bahia do, Carlinhos began selling bottles of water on the streets. His first drums were the empty water bottles he carried back at the end of each day. As a teenager. after falling in love with the music of James Brown, he changed his name from Antonio Carlos Santos Freita to Carlinhos Brown. He began playing music from all over the world, Angola, Cuba, America, and Brazil, taking tunes of Elvis Presley, James Brown, and Roberto Carlos, and transforming the music with an Afro-Bahian sound.



In the early 1980s, Carlinhos Brown was hired by Salvador's radio station WR to compose advertising jingles, pop tunes, with that Afro-Brazilian drum beat. They becamse instant hits. This led to collaborations with Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Djavan, and others, and gave Brown the opportunity to launch the band Timbalada. The group is named after the timbal, a small hand held drum which he designed.



Today, Timbalada is one of Bahia's most popular bands. Timbalada features 120 instrumentalists (most of them drummers). Based in the neighborhood of Candeal, Timbalada is also a neighborhood association. Brazil has no social safety net, and the country has the largest gap between rich and poor in the hemisphere, with millions lacking housing, education, and access to health care. Timbalada's social mission includes educational projects, and aid to street children. "Like many cities in Brazil", says Brown, "we have many many street children. One of our projects is working with these kids, allowing them to work with professional musicians, and play with a wide variety of instruments."