Baratos Afins is a long-established

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian record label and store, based in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

city. Baratos Afins is an indie record label operating in São Paulo City, Brazil. It was founded by Luiz Calanca in 1978, first as a record shop and later as a label. The idea for the label came about when

Arnaldo Baptista Arnaldo Dias Baptista (, born July 6, 1948) is a Brazilian rock musician and composer. Biography Born to pianist, Clarisse Leite, and poet, César Dias Baptista, Baptista studied classical piano from 1955 to 1959, double bass from 1962 to 1 ...

, ex-vocalist and bassist for

Os Mutantes Os Mutantes (meaning '' the mutants''; ) are an influential Brazilian rock band that were linked with the Tropicália movement, a dissident musical movement during the Brazilian dictatorship of the late 1960s. The band is considered to be one ...

arranged with Calanca to release his second solo album independently. Thus Baratos Afins history became forever intertwined with the (hi)story of rock in São Paulo. From then on the label released seminal albums by São Paulo's best upcoming underground rock acts: Fellini, Kafka, Vultos, Akira S. e as Garotas que Erraram, Voluntários da Pátria, Gueto, Smack, 3 Hombres and Mercenárias. The compilation Não São Paulo brought together four new bands and was so well received that a second volume was put together. All these bands possessed a heavy

post punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

influence but Baratos (as lovingly referred to by most record buying fans) did not intend to associate itself with any crowd in particular, and soon released the first heavy metal albums produced in Brazil: SP Metal, Volumes one and two. These albums included bands such as

Korzus Korzus is a Brazilian thrash metal band formed in São Paulo in 1983. They are one of the first bands of the Brazilian thrash metal scene, along with bands like Sarcófago and Sepultura. Their first release was issued in the seminal metal comp ...

, Salário Mínimo… The albums even caught the attention of an up-and-coming young band from

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

state:

Sepultura Sepultura (, "grave")Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 17. is a Brazilian heavy metal band from Belo Horizonte. Formed in 1984 by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera,Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 16. the band was a major force in the groove metal, thra ...

Re-releases

The label also began a campaign to re-release albums by

(Arnaldo's old group and one of Kurt Cobain´s favorite bands) that were exchanging hands at exorbitant prices among collectors. The PolyGram label created all kinds of obstacles to dissuade Calanca from licensing the records for release, but, finally, in 1984, Baratos Afins received a batch of all five Mutantes´ albums, thus paving the way for a new generation of rockers (both Brazilian and international) to finally hear one Brazil's first and finest rock bands. Along with os Mutantes the label also re-released long out of print albums by

Tom Zé Antônio José Santana Martins (born 11 October 1936), known professionally as Tom Zé (), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who was influential in the Tropicália movement of 1960s Brazil. After the peak of ...

(one of which was picked up by David Byrne in

and taken back to the US and consequently responsible for Tom Zé's discovery in the worldwide music market and his rehabilitation in Brazil's music scene), and

Itamar Assumpção Itamar Assumpção (September 13, 1949 – June 12, 2003) was a Brazilian songwriter and composer who was born in Tietê, a city in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Assumpção built a strong reputation in the Brazilian independent and alterna ...

(an Afro-Brazilian singer-composer who managed to mix samba, funk and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

and transform it into an intoxicating new urban sound). His work was originally released on another label but was re-released by Baratos, first in vinyl and then in CD.

In the 90's

Baratos began to slowly re-release its albums in CD form, thus reaching a new audience both inside and outside the country. The label also went back to releasing compilations, mainly the two volume Brazilian Pebbles which showcases garage bands worthy of inclusion in the

Nuggets Nuggets may refer to: Music * ''Nuggets'' (series), a series of compilation albums by Elektra Records, continued by Rhino * '' Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968'' * '' Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from ...

collections. The first volume of the series mainly includes bands from São Paulo City, but volume two presents bands from other states and is a feast for those needing a healthy fix of fuzz guitar. The collections proved to be a testing ground for a new underground rock scene in SP populated by bands brought up on a healthy diet of 60's pop rock and 70's punk. Some of these bands proved to be so good that they released their own CDs. Such is the case of Os Skywalkers, Mákina du Tempo, Pipodélica and Gasolines. In addition to these bands Baratos also released an exceptionally fine album by Mopho, from Alagoas state, located in the northeast of Brazil, and a strong contender for best Beatles sound alike band of all time, but with its own updated take on the classic pop sound. All these bands leave nothing to their American and British counterparts. One listen is all it takes for rock aficionados worldwide to agree.

Jazz Incursion

Baratos also released some rather tasty Brazilian jazz albums by trombonist Bocato (unfortunately still unavailable on CD) and is now releasing two CDs by Brazilian guitar legend Lanny Gordin. Lanny set standards for Brazilian rock guitar that have yet to be surpassed, mixing a heavy Jimi Hendrix influence with jazz and Brazilian music. His guitar playing was found on some of the most influential music coming out of Brazil in the late 60's and early 70's: the music of

Gilberto Gil Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Minister of Culture in the administration ...

Caetano Veloso Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo, which encomp ...

, Jards Macalé,

Tim Maia Tim Maia (, born Sebastião Rodrigues Maia; September 28, 1942 – March 15, 1998) was a Brazilian musician, songwriter, and businessman known for his iconoclastic, ironic, outspoken, and humorous musical style. Maia contributed to Brazilian mus ...

and

Gal Costa Gal Maria da Graça Costa Penna Burgos (born Maria da Graça Costa Penna Burgos; 26 September 1945 – 9 November 2022), known professionally as Gal Costa (), was a Brazilian singer of popular music. She was one of the main figures of the tro ...

. Together with Arnaldo Baptista, Lanny is one of Brazilian rock's casualties, but he is still capable of making good music which can now be heard on Baratos two new releases. And that is the story so far.

Current and former signings

* 3 Hombres * A Chave do Sol * Akira S & as Garotas que Erraram *

Alta Tensão Alta or ALTA may refer to: Acronyms * Alt-A, short for Alternative A-paper, is a type of U.S. mortgage * American Land Title Association, a national trade association representing the land title industry * American Literary Translators Associatio ...

* Alzira Espíndola *

* Atahualpa Y us Panquis * Ave de Veludo * Bagga's Guru * Bocato *

Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most i ...

* Laranja Freak * Mercenárias * Os Skywalkers

Re-releases

In the 90's

Jazz Incursion

Current and former signings

See also