Banda Olodum turned 40 in 2019 and you still rank among the most popular musicians and activist groups in Brazil. What are the reasons for this success?
Lazinho: Change. I’m one of Olodum’s founding members: we began just to have a way to participate in Carnaval because we Afro-Brazilians living in Pelourinho [the historical centre of Salvador, the capital of Bahia state] didn’t have the right to do that. People used to think that only thieves and prostitutes lived here, and that wasn’t true. When residents applied for jobs, they gave the addresses of friends that lived elsewhere.
