Laercio Lins

Laercio Lins grew up in the Pajeú region of Pernambuco, where he absorbed the local rhythms of forró, maracatu, and coco. He started playing in bands there, and by the 1970s he was working with musicians like Chico Buarque and Gilberto Gil during the Tropicalismo movement. That's when he wrote 'Missões No Pajeú,' a ballad about missionaries and indigenous people in the Northeast that mixes spoken word with sung verses.

His songs often touch on faith and social themes. You can hear it in tracks like 'Candeia,' 'Seu Moço,' and 'O Ministério de Cristo.' In 1991, he was arrested and tortured by the Brazilian military, which sharpened the political edge in his later work. He kept recording albums that moved between traditional forró and more experimental sounds, but he never lost that connection to the stories of his region.