Biography of singer-songwriter Carlinhos Brown

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Biografia de Carlinhos Brown
Biography of Carlinhos Brown

Carlinhos Brown, stage name of Antônio Carlos Santos de Freitas, (Salvador, November 23, 1962) is a Brazilian singer, percussionist, composer, producer and cultural agitator. In Spain he is also known as Carlito Marrón.

His stage name is said to be a tribute to James Brown and H. Rap Brown, leaders of black music in the 1970s, idols of funk and soul music.

He began by learning to play the pandeiro and gradually mastered all percussion instruments.

Carlinhos Brown became one of Bahia’s most sought-after instrumentalists in the early 80s. In 1984 he played in Luiz Caldas’ band Acordes Verdes.

He was one of the creators of samba-reggae and, in 1985, was part of Caetano Veloso’s band on the album Estrangeiro. In this participation, his composition “Meia Lua Inteira” was very successful in Brazil and abroad. Still in 1985, Luiz Caldas himself recorded “Visão de Cíclope”, Carlinhos Brown’s first composition and one of the most played hits in Salvador’s radio stations.

Biografia do cantor e compositor Carlinhos Brown

Then came “Remexer”, “O Côco” and “É Difícil”, his compositions interpreted by other artists, which earned him the Caymmi trophy, one of the most important in Bahian music. He also participated in world tours with João Gilberto, Djavan and João Bosco.

In the 1990s he made a name for himself nationally and internationally as the leader of the group Timbalada. This group brought together more than 100 percussionists and singers, called “timbaleiros”, mostly poor young people from the Candeal neighborhood, where the composer was born.

It recorded eight CDs and toured several countries around the world. In 1993 it was nominated by Billboard magazine as “the best CD produced in Latin America”.

After the success of Timbalada he released solo albums in 1996 (Alfagamabetizado and Omelete Man), where he acted as singer, composer and instrumentalist.

Carlinhos Brown like Hermeto Pascoal, Carlinhos also became famous for getting rhythms out of trash barrels and buckets of water, performing experimentalism.

Besides Timbalada, Carlinhos Brown develops other parallel projects in Bahia, among which: Bloco Timbalada, Candyall Gueto Square, Estúdio Ilha dos Sapos, Trio Elétrico Mr. Brown, Lactomia and Associação Pracatum Ação Social (APAS).

In 2002 Carlinhos Brown had great success on Brazilian radio, singing with Arnaldo Antunes and Marisa Monte in Os Tribalistas. The hit “Já sei namorar” was in first place on the main radio stations in Brazil. The second song, “Velha Infância”, became the soundtrack for a Rede Globo soap opera. In 2003 Os Tribalistas won the awards for best CD, DVD and best song, with “Já sei Namorar”, at the Multishow de Música Brasileira.

Carlinhos Brown performed forty shows in Spain between May and July 2005. In the five “Carnaval Movistar”, the Brazilian artist transformed for a few hours the streets of Bilbao (May 21), Barcelona (May 28), Madrid (June 18), Seville (June 26) and Valencia (July 17).

This tour ended on August 27 in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) and took the artist in May to Albacete and Tomares (Seville) and in June to Girona, Logroño, Salamanca, Jaén, A Coruña, Valladolid, Zaragoza and Castilla y León.

Among other cities, the singer Carlinhos Brown performed in July in Córdoba, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, La Palma, Valencia, Gijón and at the Festival Pireneus Sul and in August in Pinto (Madrid), Pontevedra, Alicante, Gandía, Bilbao, Malhorca, Serpa and Lagos in Portugal. The singer, the biggest phenomenon of Bahian music in Europe, was followed by other bands and singers in step.

In July 2007 Carlinhos Brown performed at the Delta Tejo Festival in Lisbon.

Biography of singer and songwriter Carlinhos Brown

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