Axé (pronounced ah-SHAY) is a word from the Yoruba language which refers to the power, energy, or force present in each being and in everything. In Brazil, the term designates a genre of popular music, whose main characteristics are the percussive rhythm and poetics of the songs. Desiring axé has the same meaning as desiring energy, courage and vitality. In this overture for wind band, composer Gilson Silva seeks to translate the relationship between the energy of the Brazilian rhythm and the strength that the word evokes. Axé!