Trio Elétrico
Encyclopedia
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
or float
Float (parade)
A float is a decorated platform, either built on a vehicle or towed behind one, which is a component of many festive parades, such as those of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the Carnival of Viareggio, the Maltese Carnival, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Key West Fantasy Fest parade, the...
equipped with a high power sound system and a music group on the roof, playing for the crowd. It was created in Bahia
Bahia
Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...
specifically for Carnival
Carnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
and it is now used in similar events in other districts and countries. This setup is used in Brazilian Carnival
Brazilian Carnival
The Carnival of Brazil is an annual festival held forty-six days before Easter. On certain days of Lent, Roman Catholics and some other Christians traditionally abstained from the consumption of meat and poultry, hence the term "carnival," from carnelevare, "to remove meat." Carnival celebrations...
inside the blocos carnavalescos and other festivals in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, specially in micaretas . The idea was introduced in 1949 during a carnival in Bahia
Bahia
Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...
by the duo Dodô e Osmar (Adolfo Nascimento and Osmar Macedo).
Some Brazilian artists have been known to sing on a Trio such as Elba Ramalho
Elba ramalho
Elba Ramalho, is a Brazilian songwriter, performer, poet and actress. She is sometimes called "The Queen of Forró"....
, Daniela Mercury
Daniela Mercury
Daniela Mercury , is a Latin Grammy Award-winning Brazilian axé, samba-reggae and MPB singer, songwriter and record producer. Since her breakthrough, Mercury has become one of the best known Brazilian female singers, selling over 20 million albums worldwide...
, Ivete Sangalo
Ivete Sangalo
Ivete Maria Dias de Sangalo is a Latin Grammy Award-winning Brazilian Axé and MPB singer, songwriter, and occasional actress and television show host...
, Saulo Fernandes
Saulo Fernandes
Saulo Jorge Fernandes Navarro de Oliveira is a Brazilian Axé singer. Before entering for the Banda Eva , in March 2002, Saulo was the lead singer of the Banda Chica Fé .- Career :...
, Cláudia Leitte
Cláudia Leitte
Cláudia Cristina Leite Inácio, known as Claudia Leitte is a Brazilian axé singer, and former vocalist of the group Babado Novo. Since she is one of the most popular axé singers in Brazil, she hosted MTV Brasil's Video Music Brasil 2007, in which she had been nominated as best singer in that award...
, Carlinhos Brown
Carlinhos Brown
Carlinhos Brown is a Brazilian musician from Salvador, Bahia. He was born in Candeal Pequeno, a small neighbourhood in the Brotas area of Salvador de Bahia...
(from Timbalada
Timbalada
Timbalada is an Afro-Brazilian musician group from Candeal, Salvador, Brazil. It was founded by drummer Carlinhos Brown. The musical style is between samba reggae and axé, with strong influences from African music...
), Asa de Águia and Chiclete com Banana
Chiclete com Banana
Chiclete com Banana is an Axé music band, currently consisting of Bell Marques, Wadinho Marques, Rey, Waltinho Cruz, Deny and Lelo. The group is named after the song "Chiclete com Banana," written by Gordurinha...
. The popular Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso
Caetano Veloso
Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso , better known as Caetano Veloso, is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo which encompassed theatre, poetry and music in the 1960s,...
poetized the Trio Elétrico in the song, Atrás do Trio Elétrico só não vai quem já morreu - "Only the dead do not go after the Trio Elétrico".
History
The origins of the trio elétrico come from the "dupla eletrica" (Electric Pair or Electric Duo"), the two friends Adolfo Antônio Nascimento (Dodô) and Osmar Álvares de Macêdo, who decided, in 1950, to fix an old Ford Model TFord Model T
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from September 1908 to May 1927...
(colloquially known as the Tin Lizzie or the Flivver) to perform their self-made electric instrument, known as pau eletrico (electric log), during Bahia carnival. They drove through the streets playing music powered by the car battery. The show took place in the city centre at 5 pm on carnival Sunday and attracted a large crowd.
The name "trio elétrico" was coined in 1951 when Dodô and Osmar invited a friend to perform with them, the architect Temístocles Aragão. They played through Salvador
Salvador, Bahia
Salvador is the largest city on the northeast coast of Brazil and the capital of the Northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia. Salvador is also known as Brazil's capital of happiness due to its easygoing population and countless popular outdoor parties, including its street carnival. The first...
in a Chrysler
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
pick-up. That is how the electric pair became the electric trio. Though the name was created for the band, it ended up being the name of their invention.
Another invention from Bahia, the "micaretas" (an out-of-season Carnival) began using the trios or floats. Today, there is a huge industry for the production, maintenance and leasing of trios. Many new artists are discovered on trios.
In the year of 1983, a trio built in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
was inaugurated in Piazza Navona
Piazza Navona
Piazza Navona is a city square in Rome, Italy. It is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in 1st century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. The ancient Romans came there to watch the agones , and hence it was known as 'Circus Agonalis'...
in the presence of 80 thousand people who danced to the electric sound of Dodô, Osmar and Armandinho. That was the first time a trio was featured out of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
In 1985, invited by students of the University of Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Armandinho, Dodô and Osmar traveled once more to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to take some of Carnival to more than 100 thousand people in Toulouse.
The trio is known worldwide as one of the symbols of Brazilian culture, its music, its Carnival and its partying.