Axé

[1] Artists such as Gilberto Gil, Vinicius de Moraes, Caetano Veloso, Sergio Mendes, Daniela Mercury, Carlinhos Brown, among others, have all used African culture, religion and symbols as inspirations and lyrics of their songs.

For example, the Bahian Carnival focuses on specifically celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus as it leads to the Lenten season in the Roman Catholic calendar.

[3] This genre was purely instrumental, and remained so until the 1970s, when Moraes Moreira (of the band Novos Baianos) went solo.In 1974, carnival in Salvador, Bahia began taking shape.

A group of Afro-Brazilians civil rights activists formed Ilê Aiyê, a music ensemble that derived their heavy rhythm from Candomblé's religious ceremonies.

Quickly, Ilê Aiyê gained a huge following, allowing them to influence other artists to incorporate the samba-reggae style and the heavy beats to their music.

[3] Groups such as Timbalada, Olodum and Filhos de Gandhi also shared the heavy beats and rhythms with Ilê Aiyê, as well as utilizing African symbols such as typical outfits and instruments that all these bands use to perform.

As expressed in the earlier parts of this section, a driving beat, which carries out the dancing aspect of the music, also brings with it lyrics that invite those from mass who want to join these carnival parades.

[5] Used as a template of originality in the mid 1980s, axé didn't completely come together until there was a mix of music genres developed by Bahian musicians.

The blocos Afro group was formed to oppose prejudice that struck many poor dark-skinned people from several carnival clubs in Salvador in the 1970s.

When Daniela Mercury released O Canto da Cidade in 1992, axé entered the mainstream pop music scene and became one of the most popular genres in Brazil.

Two years prior to Daniela Mercury's success, the American and European released Margareth Menezes' Elegibô, which took the style to international audiences.

Claudia Leitte, on the other hand, gained international prominence when she appeared on Billboard's Social 50 for 8 weeks after collaborating on "We Are One", the 2014 World Cup theme song.

Michael Jackson collaborated with Olodum in this video, which featured 200 members of the band playing their different types of drums to the sound of samba-reggae from Salvador.