Alpha Blondy, The Gladiators and Leões de Israel heat up Expresso Brasil in São Paulo! Check it out on Surforeggae!

Last Friday, September 17, Expresso Brasil, one of São Paulo's reggae strongholds, once again hosted major exponents of national and international reggae. Representing Brazil, Leões de Israel, one of the most respected Brazilian bands here and abroad. Leões has also stood out for spectacularly backing major international names such as Clinton Fearon, Eek-a-Mouse, Gregory Isaacs and more recently Max Romeo. Leões showed it remains very strong in São Paulo, and literally fired up the audience with songs from the album "Palavra Viva" and also from the most recent work, "Ethnos Brasilis", which were sung by the audience in an extraordinary way. The Jamaicans of The Gladiators were the first international act to take the stage at Expresso Brasil on a cold night that promised plenty of quality sound. The band is one of the record holders for audience turnout at Expresso, having packed the venue years ago under Albert Griffiths' leadership. The Gladiators is one of Jamaica's most legendary groups, now led by Al Griffiths, Albert's son, who maintains the essence of the sound. As usual on recent Gladiators tours, American singer Zema, established in Jamaica, sang some of her hits. Besides being extremely friendly, Zema is an authentic representative of roots reggae, and on her most recent album "Jubilee" (recorded with The Gladiators) proves why she is one of the genre's female highlights. With a well-renewed repertoire, The Gladiators left out a large number of the band's classics, which left the audience "floating" a bit during the show. With several songs from the new albums, such as "Continuation", it was hard to excite an audience that, due to lack of CD or digital distributors, often does not know the new work of established bands like theirs. The high point of the show was undoubtedly "Belly Full", sung by everyone present in an emotional way. Staying true to their roots, The Gladiators put on a very good show, despite the absence of the biggest classics such as "Look is Deceiving", "Roots Natty". Closing with the classic "Stick a Bush", the band bid farewell after a show lasting almost 2 hours. Despite the delay changing stages between The Gladiators and Alpha Blondy, the audience did not leave Expresso Brasil, and at 4 a.m. Alpha and his majestic band The Solar System graced the paulistas. Hits such as "Masada", "Jerusalem", "Cocody Rock", "Peace in Liberia" and even "Bahia", which speaks of Salvador and was made in tribute to the great Geraldo Carvalho (producer who for many years brought the biggest reggae stars to Brazil), were on the set list. With surprising energy and moving constantly around the stage, Alpha remains much loved by the Brazilian audience. Also suffering from the problem of music distribution in Brazil, the most recent songs from the album "Jah Victory" seemed like news to the audience. Alpha, who toured several cities, bid farewell to São Paulo with an instrumental of "The Heathen" (Bob Marley) and the classic "Brigadier Sabary". We thank the entire Expresso Brasil team for making coverage possible and always treating Surforeggae's work with respect. And may more stars come!

EVENT IMAGES

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