Grupo Emoriô

Grupo Emoriô formed in Salvador, Bahia in the late 1990s, bringing together musicians with a shared interest in the music of candomblé. Their songs draw from traditional rituals honoring the orixás, the divine figures of that Afro-Brazilian religion. You can hear this in tracks like 'Ogum, Orixá Guerreiro' and 'Linda Mamãe Oxum,' which are essentially devotional music set to rhythm.

Their sound is built on percussion, atabaques, berimbaus, agogôs, and group vocals, staying close to the source material rather than blending it with pop forms. They've faced some pushback for being so openly focused on candomblé, but they've kept recording. The music doesn't try to explain the tradition as much as simply present it, which gives it a direct, unadorned quality.