Baratos Afins
| Baratos Afins | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1978 |
| Founder | Luiz Calanca |
| Genre | Various. |
| Country of origin | Brazil |
| Official website | http://www.baratosafins.com.br/ |
Baratos Afins is a long-established Brazilian record label and store, based in São Paulo city.
Baratos Afins is an indie record label operating in São Paulo City, Brazil. It was founded by Luiz Calanca in 1978, first as a record shop and later as a label. The idea for the label came about when Arnaldo Baptista, ex-vocalist and bassist for Os Mutantes arranged with Calanca to release his second solo album independently. Thus Baratos Afins history became forever intertwined with the (hi)story of rock in São Paulo. From then on the label released seminal albums by São Paulo's best upcoming underground rock acts: Fellini, Kafka, Vultos, Akira S. e as Garotas que Erraram, Voluntários da Pátria, Gueto, Smack, 3 Hombres and Mercenárias. The compilation Não São Paulo brought together four new bands and was so well received that a second volume was put together. All these bands possessed a heavy post punk influence but Baratos (as lovingly referred to by most record buying fans) did not intend to associate itself with any crowd in particular, and soon released the first heavy metal albums produced in Brazil: SP Metal, Volumes one and two. These albums included bands such as Korzus, Salário Mínimo… The albums even caught the attention of an up-and-coming young band from Minas Gerais state: Sepultura.
The label also began a campaign to re-release albums by Os Mutantes (Arnaldo's old group and one of Kurt Cobain´s favorite bands) that were exchanging hands at exorbitant prices among collectors. The PolyGram label created all kinds of obstacles to dissuade Calanca from licensing the records for release, but, finally, in 1984, Baratos Afins received a batch of all five Mutantes´ albums, thus paving the way for a new generation of rockers (both Brazilian and international) to finally hear one Brazil's first and finest rock bands. Along with os Mutantes the label also re-released long out of print albums by Tom Zé (one of which was picked up by David Byrne in Brazil and taken back to the US and consequently responsible for Tom Zé's discovery in the worldwide music market and his rehabilitation in Brazil's music scene), and Itamar Assumpção (an Afro-Brazilian singer-composer who managed to mix samba, funk and rock and transform it into an intoxicating new urban sound). His work was originally released on another label but was re-released by Baratos, first in vinyl and then in CD.
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