Tony Mola & Bragada

Tony Mola is a native Bahian who co-founded the ensemble Timbalada with Carlinhos Brown. Mola is a versatile musician who composes, sings and plays a variety of percussion instruments including bingolas and djembes.Tony's ensemble Bragada presents the newest wave in Brazilian music, an innovative distillation of the history of Bahian rhythms that blends modern grooves such as rap, hip-hop, salsa, and Jamaican raggamuffin with traditional samba, forró and orishas rhythms.

The word Bragada has two meanings: It is an onomatopoeic expression of the Bahian three-beat rhythm, bra-ga-da; and it is a reference to Ogun, the Candomblé (an Afro-Brazilian syncretic religion) god of metal and warfare. Bragada is also the name of Tony Mola's huge ensemble. The driving inspiration for Mola and his tribe of musical warriors is to honor the spirit of Ogun by "defending" and preserving the culture of Brazil. —Courtesy Calabash Music