How a New Generation Found Os Tincos Music
The New York Times The group from Bahia, Brazil, became known for its beautiful vocal harmonies. Canto Coral Afrobrasileiro, an album recorded 40 years ago, has finally been released.
In May, a crowd of 3,000 filled the Utopia Warehouse at the old port of Rio de Janeiro for the opening night of Back2Black, a festival dedicated to Black culture. A figure dressed in white sat onstage, guitar in hand, and the imposing baritone voice of Mateus Aleluia the only active member of Os Tincos, a group from Bahia, Brazil, revered for its heavenly vocal harmonies and songs about the Yoruba mythology reverberated throughout the venue. He sang about birds, waterfalls and mystical beings. And also about oppression, suffering and the pain of racism.
When Aleluia suddenly stopped singing and opened his arms, the crowd understood the signal and sang back to him the lyrics of Cordeiro de Nan, the bands 1977 lament about slavery. You guys know the lyrics better than I do, he said with a smile, and left the stage to cheers, leaning on a crutch.
