Mercenárias ( Portuguese for "Mercenaries"), sometimes erroneously referred to as As Mercenárias, are a

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian all-female rock band formed in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

in 1982, by bassist Sandra Coutinho, vocalist Rosália Munhoz and guitarist Ana Machado. With lyrics that heavily criticized Brazilian government and society (and sometimes the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

as well), their sonority was constantly compared to

Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees ( ) were a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. Post-punk pioneers, they were widely influential, both over their contemporaries and later ...

Joy Division Joy Division were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris (musici ...

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...

and above all

The Slits The Slits were a punk/post-punk band based in London, formed there in 1976 by members of the groups the Flowers of Romance and the Castrators. The group's early line-up consisted of Ari Up (Ariane Forster) and Palmolive (a.k.a. Paloma Rom ...

. The band ended in 1988, but reunited in 2006 with a new line-up; further changes on the band's line-up would be made in early 2015 and then in 2017. The only original founding member remaining is Coutinho.

History

Mercenárias was founded in

in 1982, by Sandra Coutinho, Rosália Munhoz and Ana Machado, at the time college students: Rosália studied

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

at the PUC-SP, while Sandra and Ana were classmates at the ECA-USP, where they studied

Journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

. A then-unknown

Edgard Scandurra Edgard José Scandurra Pereira (born 5 February 1962) is a Brazilian singer, composer, guitar player, drummer and musical director, who is a member of the Brazilian rock band Ira!.Brito, Carlos.Ana Cañas e Hyldon misturam rock e soul no Palco S ...

initially served as the band's drummer; however, he would leave the band in order to focus on the incipient

Ira! Ira! (Brazilian Portuguese, Portuguese for ''Anger!'' or ''Rage (emotion), Rage!'', although the name was inspired by the Irish Republican Army) is a Brazilian rock band that was founded in São Paulo in the early 1980s. They were strongly infl ...

, and was replaced by Lourdes "Lou" Moreira by the time the band released their first album. Sandra would also join Smack in 1983, alongside Scandurra, Sérgio "Pamps" Pamplona and Thomas Pappon, and

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...

band

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in 1984, alongside former

Titãs Titãs (, Portuguese for Titans) are a Brazilian Rock music, rock band from São Paulo. Though they primarily are classified as a rock band, the band have also experimented with genres such as New wave music, new wave, punk rock, ska, grunge, M� ...

member

Ciro Pessoa Ciro Pessoa Mendes Corrêa (12 June 1957 – 5 May 2020), also known by his Dharma name Tenzin Chöpel, was a Brazilian singer who was one of the founding members of the influential rock band Titãs. He was also known for his work with pioneerin ...

. In 1983 they recorded a demo tape, containing eight tracks, but it was never made available to the general public. The tape caught the attention of famous Brazilian independent label Baratos Afins though, which released Mercenárias' debut album, '' Cadê as Armas?'', in 1986. It was extremely well-received, with the tracks "Inimigo", "Santa Igreja", "Polícia" and "Pânico" becoming underground hits. A

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was made for the latter track. In 1988, the band released their second (and last) studio album, '' Trashland'', via

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

. It received an even better reception than the first one, and won the prize of "Album of the Year" by magazine '' Bizz''. However, EMI fired the band for unknown reasons, and they disbanded soon after. Ana and Rosália abandoned the musical career, while Sandra, in 1998, went on to live in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

for a while, where she formed the short-lived German-Brazilian group Akt, before returning to Brazil in 2005. "Lourdes" underwent a

sex reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associat ...

and changed his name to Leonardo, and announced himself to be an

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

activist. In 2006, Sandra reformed the band and hired new members Geórgia Branco and Pitchu Ferraz. In 2012, the band celebrated its 30-year anniversary, and performed at the CCJ Ruth Cardoso in São Paulo, for free. The show counted with the participation of Edgard Scandurra and

Clemente Nascimento Clemente is both an Italian, Spanish and French surname and a given name. Notable people with the surname include: Surname * Aldo Di Clemente (born 1948), Italian amateur astronomer * Anna Clemente (born 1994), Italian racewalker * Ari Clemente ...

(of the band Inocentes), among others. In November 2013, the band performed at the SESC Consolação, in a show celebrating the 35-year anniversary of Baratos Afins. Sandra's bandmates of Smack, Scandurra and Pamplona, participated in it. In early 2015, Branco and Ferraz left the band and were replaced by Sílvia Tape and Michelle Abu. In mid-2017, Marianne Crestani replaced Tape. In March 2015, Mercenárias announced on their official Facebook page that their 1983 demo would be remastered and finally available for purchase. The band's first release in 27 years, it came out on June 27, 2015 by independent label Nada Nada Discos. On August 11, 2018, the band released the

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

''Baú 83–87'', containing previously unreleased demos and rarities recorded between 1983 and 1987.Mercenárias - Baú 83-87 LP
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Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

Singles

* ''Pânico/Rock Europeu'' ( split single with

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

— 2005)

Band members

Current members

* Sandra Coutinho – vocals (2006–), bass guitar (1982–1988, 2006–) * Marianne Crestani – guitar, backing vocals (2017–) * Michelle Abu – drums (2015–)

Former members

* Rosália Munhoz – vocals (1982–1988) * Ana Machado – guitar (1982–1988) * Edgard Scandurra – drums (1982–1985) * Leonardo Moreira – drums (1985–1988) * Geórgia Branco – guitar (2006–2015) * Pitchu Ferraz – drums (2006–2015) * Sílvia Tape – guitar (2015–2017)

References

External links

*
Mercenárias' page at Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercenarias All-female punk bands Brazilian punk rock groups Musical groups established in 1982 Musical groups disestablished in 1988 Musical groups reestablished in 2006 Brazilian post-punk music groups Brazilian musical trios Musical groups from São Paulo 1982 establishments in Brazil 1988 disestablishments in Brazil 2006 establishments in Brazil