Discover Aguidá’s samba, which fills up a bar in the center of SP with a free wheel on Saturdays

People like Beth Carvalho and Cartola lend their faces to decorate the walls of the Annex Godê, a new bar in Campos Elíseos, in the center of São Paulo. And it is in this scenario marked by big names in samba that the house receives, every Saturday, the Roda do Aguidá.

The event starts shyly, around 5 pm, but it’s already boiling around 7 pm. At this moment, the house is so full that it is difficult to get another cold beer. At the end of the second interval, the public already exceeds the venue’s capacity and completely occupies the sidewalk, in addition to part of the street.

Formed by a group of friends in 2019, the samba do Aguidá was named after a clay object of African origin similar to a vessel used to deliver offerings to orixás. During performances, the artifact is used to receive money deposited by the audience.

“We wanted to make a different samba circle, hence the name. We accumulate what we receive and, at the end of the year, we choose an institution that will receive the amount. People put the money inside the aguidá, as if it were an offering, and we donate” , says Tiago Campos, 40, one of the founders of the group.

Eight wheelchairs have been bought by the group for children’s institutions so far and, in the last year, the amount collected with the samba was used by a colleague of the members to rebuild the house. “Aguidá had some money and we donated it to a friend who had his house burned down”, says Campos.

In addition to the aguidá, the table used to support the instruments also receives items such as a Saint George sword and a small sculpture of the saint with the same name as the plant. “They are our protection elements”, declares Campos.

Despite the elements that refer to religions of African origin, such as umbanda and candomblé, the group’s staff claims to have no specific religion and that it welcomes all creeds. “Aguidá is not part of any religion, we sing to bring energy to people”, says Parrera de Jesus, 35, also in the group.

“I myself take the little pieces of paper deposited in the aguidá, take them to some churches later and ask for prayer”, he says.

As well as classics such as “Trem das Onze”, by Adoniran Barbosa and “Ogum”, by Zeca Pagodinho, authorial songs are also part of the repertoire and help to lull the public until the end of the circle.

“We separate the songs, but this changes according to the audience. We feel the night and change the style of samba, always mixing it up. But we always play samba because it is what has to do with our heritage”, says Jesus.

The third member of Aguidá, Wagner Justino, 41, reinforces the idea of ​​keeping the genre as the group’s main focus. “We have nothing against pagode, but it’s not what we know how to play. So we only play samba and we always look for someone to play it”, he says. The group has three permanent members and three rotating members.

The exception for opening the pagoda are the guests of the circles. “It could be that some participant arrives and sings, then we’ll play normally”, says Campos. Artists such as Tereza Gama, from Clube do Balanço, and Raquel Tobias, are some of those who have already performed in the roda.

Sponsored by the duet Prettos, from the Preto em Branco quintet, Aguidá’s samba began to be performed at Godê, the bar adjacent to the Annex, at the beginning of the year. “We made a samba here and they didn’t let us go out anymore”, says Justino. The Annex, in turn, opened its doors in September —with the samba circle already on the agenda.

The musicians estimate that around 900 people pass through the place every Saturday. And, as a rule, Aguidá performs at the Annex Godê on the 17th. Entrance is free and the tip is to arrive early to enjoy the feijoada at neighbor Godê.