Maracatu de Baque Virado

Baque de Axé is a London based band playing traditional Maracatu Carnival percussion music from Recife in Pernambuco, Brazil. Affiliated with one of the oldest surviving Maracatu bands, Nação do Maracatu Porto Rico, we play in concert halls and clubs, parade in street carnivals, perform at private events, teach band workshops and classes in percussion and dance, and work with educational and community outreach programs in London and Brazil.

We play a style of Maracatu called ‘Maracatu de Baque Virado’ Portuguese for ‘Maracatu of the turning beat', reflecting the syncopation and interaction of the beats. This traditional form of carnival parading, percussion and dance has deep roots in Afro-Brazilian traditions and is a major form of carnival in Recife, Brazil. The instruments of Maracatu are the gonguê (bell), ganzá (mineiro/shaker), agbê (shekerê), alfaia (base drum), caixa (snare drum), and atabaque (timbau/hand drum).

We were formed by our leader Sam Alexander back in 2002 under the original name of Maracatu Estrela do Norte. During an extended trip to Brazil in 2017 Sam stayed with Nação do Maracatu Porto Rico in the community of Bode in Recife, spending 6 months immersed in their music and culture. On his return to London our name was changed to Baque de Axé, and we became affiliated to Nação do Maracatu Porto Rico in the songs and rhythms we play.

We aim to enhance awareness of the history of the Maracatu Naçãos (nations) of Brazil, of the Afro-Brazilian background of the slave trade, of Candomblé, a religion practiced in Brazil, and of the Maracatu music of today that is derived from these traditions. ‘Axé’ is a Yoruba word, which crossed the Atlantic to Brazil, originally meaning the spiritual power and energy bestowed upon practitioners by the pantheon of Orixás, the Yoruba gods. For us this becomes the communal spirit and strength that performing arouses in us.

Would you like to get involved? Do you fancy playing in Notting Hill Carnival next year? We are always open to new members. There is more information on our join page, and we invite all those interested to get in touch.

Nação do Maracatu Porto Rico

Baque de Axé is affiliated to Nação do Maracatu Porto Rico, a traditional Maracatu group founded in 1916 in Palmares, Pernambuco, Brazil, by descendants of Quilombo de Palmares, a figurehead of freedom in Afro-Brazilian history. Their base is a favela community in Recife, North East Brazil. The group has been led by Maestre Jailson Chacon Viana for 17 years, who is respected for his creation of beautiful songs and instrumental richness in the Maracatu beat. When it was first registered in 1916, just twenty years after the end of slavery in Brazil, Nação do Maracatu Porto Rico was considered an old band even then. With roots in the communities that were left behind after the slave industries and Portuguese armies destroyed and dispersed the Quilombo of Palmares, they are a cultural phenomenon whose reason for existence is resistance.

Maracatu Naçãos are carnival groups that developed in answer to a need to camouflage the African religion of Candomblé Nagô. When registered as carnival bands, the groups could hold ceremonies and rituals with less risk of harassment, violence or worse. Maracatu is more than music, it is a culture of African faith, a celebration of African and mixed ancestors and spirits, and a survival tool for a discriminated and marginalised community.

Nação do Maracatu Porto Rico have about 200 percussionists, and parade with about 600 people of all ages. They have won more Recife Maracatu Carnival titles than any other Maracatu group. In 2020 the group were crowned champions of Recife Carnival again, helped by visiting members of Baque de Axé from the UK. They have about twenty Maracatu groups affiliated with them in Brazil, where Maracatu is becoming more widely popular. The affiliation with Baque de Axé in London (and with Baque de Ogum our partner group in Durham), established Porto Rico’s first links with groups outside Brazil.

Baque de Axé are part of Porto Rico. We make our own drums in the traditional way, and we take our studies and our relationships with our teachers, friends and family in the favela of Pina very seriously. Maestre Jailson Chacon Viana visited Europe in 2019, and two of the Nação’s percussionists and teachers – Bigato Pereira and Thalita de Faria Domingues – spent an extended time in London during the summer of 2019 working with Baque de Axé, and parading with us at Notting Hill Carnival.

AXÉ O MEU BAQUE BONITO! AXÉ A MINHA FAMÍLIA!
AXÉ A NAÇÃO DO MARACATU PORTO RICO!