RAIZ DE PEDRA

Raiz De Pedra biography
Founded in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1977 - Disbanded in 2000

RAIZ DE PEDRA were an Brazilian fusion and progressive rock group from Porto Alegre, formed in late 70's.

The band started out under that name in 1977 by Marcelo Carneiro NADRUZ and Anibal Elias CARNEIRO when they performed on various student festivals, and official date of the birth of the group according to drummer Cesar AUDI was March 8 in 1978 when was the first rehearsal. By 1981 the group expanded their instrumental repertoire a lot and was already performing as a sextet.

In 1982 the group started pursuing music more professionally and make it their musical career, which lead to departure of Anibal CARNEIRO who would dedicate his life to medicine. Two years later they started recording their first LP which featured many compositions which they already worked on for years. For their debut album 'Trajectory' they sought opinions of Egberto GISMONTI which also put them in contact with his relabel 'Carmo'. Following its release, the group would branch out and perform in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, and on their biggest success in Cordoba, Argentina on the Chateau Rock festival.

After releasing ther first live album the group was invited to perform overseas, the workload which slowly prompted pianist Marcelo NADRUZ to move away from the group and pursue studies in classical music. After his exit, Conrado PECOITS joined as the keyboard player and the group continued their European tour. This eventually led to a contract with an independent producer 'Mazur Music' and recording of their second studio album 'Pictures', and it was a start to their eventual move of activities to Munich.

The band kept recording and performing through diferent line-ups with various German musicians now in the rooster like Wolfgang SCHMIDT of PASSPORT, and also recorded with their role model Egberto GISMONTI on their last studio album. They stopped their activities after another visit to their native Brazil in form of farewell tours in 2000.