ROOTS AND JOURNEY

Gil Felix from Salvador de Bahía, Mandingo and Brasilero, embodies the Afro-Brazilian experience, with family roots in both West Africa and South America.

Gil Felix met the explosion of West African Afropop in Europe, which inspired him to create his own pan-ethnic sound inspired by Gilberto Gil, Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Oloudum, Salif Keita, Bonga. Here the regional Bahían Reconcavo culture meets Caribbean and African musicality: Bossa Nova, Samba Reggae, Rocksteady, Soukous and Afropop in a unique musical universe. The result is an irresistible polyrythmic swing, where storytelling about mankinds´ history and our African roots is combined with poetic paintings of everyday life. 

During the 90s, Gil Felix formed the band Passo 48, who were among the pioneers of reggae in Brazil at that time and also ran Salvador's reggae hub which inspired and trained many musicians who followed in their footsteps. The reggae album ”Galan” got a special reception in São Paulo and Gil Felix´ emblematic interpretation in Portuguese of Tenement Yard - Ti, ti, ti, bla, bla, bla - is still a must on playlists of classical reggae in Brazil.

The first album ”Travesso", produced in Denmark, was followed by a series of albums produced in Europe and Brazil. Gil Felix has played at festivals such as Fest'in Bahía and Femadum and has filled the arenas in São Paulo. From 2000 onwards he lived in Switzerland and played several times at the Montreux Festival, but also on the festival scene in the rest of Europe, not least at Europe's biggest carnival: Berlin.

Gil Felix´ music is mainly popular, however he managed to get two EDM-hits in England, remaining for more than two years between 2003/04 in the 1st of the ranking: "Capoeira" (Drum and Bass) and ”Qué alegría” (House music).

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2021 Gil Felix released the emblematic song ”Kanga Musa”, a Brazilian Afropop track with musical influences from Fela Kuti, Bonga, Salif Keita and others. "Kanga Musa "is the result of Gil Felix' studies of African and American history and tells the hidden story of the African gold that financed the conquest of America and the subsequent looting that founded Europe's richness and global power. With the song ”Kanga Musa” Gil Felix joins the black intellectual artists who return the history to those who were deprived of it and inspire everyone to use music as a means of expression, to spread the truth and humanism.

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Since 2020, Gil Felix is based in Sweden where he now releases his latest album ”Ubalafon”, an international production with a tri-continental band from Stockholm/Salvador de Bahía, recorded in Stockholm and Salvador de Bahía at the legendary Studio WR, with the master of Bahía sound, Nestor Madrid, at the helm. It is released by Mills Records in Rio de Janeiro with support from the Swedish Arts Council and SELAM Academy.

On Ubalafon Gil Felix goes even deeper into the Afropop and spices the songs with Nigerian Afrobeats and obvious Angolan vibes.  The album carries a warm pan-African message and tributes the African heritage of the Bahían Reconcavo culture and even all human cultures. In addition to paying tribute to Afro-Brazilian icons such as Olodum, Ilê Aiyê, Filhos de Gandhy and Carlinhos Brown, Gil Félix brings in this work the dilemma of the common human being in times of war and extremism, the persistence of the African people and their ability to renew themselves, hope and the modernity of clicks , which isolates human beings from the great beauties of the world.

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In Sweden, Gil Felix has performed at the Stockholm Culture Festival, Festival Latino, Latin Village, Brazilian Day, Katalin Jazz Club, Engelen Music Pub, Lasse i Parken, Kulturoasen, African Jazz Club etc and he runs his own SalvadorStokolmo Klub, for musical encounters of Brazilian, Latin and African music at the Pygme Theater in Stockholm.

An evening with Gil Felix and his band always ends up with the crowd dancing, singing and celebrating life and human affinity. Gil Felix puts us all both to dance and to think!