Juazeiro, BR · axé · pop

Ivete Sangalo

1 upcoming festival

Bahia's axé superstar and one of Brazil's biggest live draws, a carnival voice scaled up to stadiums.

Ivete Sangalo came out of Juazeiro, in the Bahian sertão, and made her name in Salvador fronting Banda Eva through the 1990s before going solo at the end of the decade. Her core repertoire is axé, the guitar-driven carnival music of Bahia, pushed toward pop with horns and heavy percussion, and much of it was written to be sung from a trio elétrico moving through a crowd.

She kept that role after becoming a stadium act, playing Salvador's carnival circuit while releasing live albums recorded at large venues, including a Maracanã show and a concert at Madison Square Garden. Songs like "Sorte Grande" and "Festa" have stayed in her sets for years, and her shows still run long, built around call and response with the audience.

axépop