Artist: Various Artists

Date Released:

Label: Soul Jazz

Produced By:

Tracklisting:

1. Gilberto Gil - Bat Macumba
2. Os Mutantes - A Minha Menina
3. Gal Costa - Tuareg
4. Gilberto Gil & Os Mutantes - Domingo No Parque
5. Caetano Veloso -Alfômega
6. Gal Costa - Sebastiana
7. Gilberto Gil - Procissão
8. Caetano Veloso - Irene
9. Os Mutantes - Ave Genghis Khan
10. Jorge Ben - Take It Easy, My Brother Charles
11. Tom Zé - Jimmy, Renda-se
12. Os Mutantes - Ando Meio Desligado
13. Caetano Veloso - Tropicália
14. Tom Zé - Quero Sambal Meu Bem
15. Gal Costa -Vou Recomeçar
16. Os Mutantes - Panis Et Circenses
17. Tom Zé - Gloria
18. Os Mutantes - Quem Tem Medo De Brincar De Amor
19. Caetano Veloso -Lost in the Paradise
20. Os Mutantes - Bat Macumba

ReviewEdit

The Tropicália movement of 1968 brought on a cultural revolution in a Brazil torn between a military dictatorship and a militant left-wing collection of high-class artists and intellectuals. The problem was that neither group was considering anyone but themselves, and to put it incredibly simple, most of Brazil was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Tropicália’s two main protagonists, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, as well as a slew of other similar-minded musicians, writers, poets, filmmakers and artists were left to bring attention to this paradox by any means possible. How do you simultaneously celebrate your Brazilian roots while also exposing yourself to international culture, how do you embrace progressive American and British artists without supporting their accompanying imperialism, how do you love both pop and the avant-garde anti-music, how can you idolize João Gilberto while dismissing the Bossa Nova genre he created? The Tropicálistas consciously ‘cannibalised’ (internalized) everything, and the result was a new style of innately anarchist music combining psychedelic rock and pop, avant-garde musique concrete and Brazilian roots music like samba and Bossa Nova. Strung with mostly metaphorical anti-populist and anti-nationalist lyrics and an increasingly raucous live show, they were eventually banned with the introduction of the A1-5 act which censored all press and culture. Veloso and Gil were imprisoned with no charges and later exiled a little more than a year after the movement began and just like that Tropicália ended. Today their influence is still deeply felt in a now democratic Brazilian society and heard everywhere in popular music from Tortoise to Stereolab to Beck. Thanks to the always incredible Soul Jazz, their music continues to inspire fresh ears and eager minds spreading their influence almost 40 years after the fact. Mpardaiolo

Further readingEdit

• Soul Jazz Page