Gilberto Gil and Tropicália

In January 1965, Gilberto Gil left Salvador for São Paulo State to work as a trainee at Gessy Lever. After a short time living in Campinas, he moved to São Paulo city and started dividing his time between the office and his music.

The Tropicália movement was born out of avant-garde artistic influences in the 1960s, combining expressions of Brazilian culture with foreign elements. Among those considered founders of the Tropicália movement were the musicians Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Tom Zé, Nara Leão, José Carlos Capinan, and Jorge Ben, the group Os Mutantes, the conductor Rogério Duprat, and the poet Torquato Neto.

Gil and Caetano were voracious readers of poetry, opinion pieces, and stories, and this had a considerable influence on their songwriting. The pair even got to meet some of their idols, including the poets Mário Lago and Décio Pignatari (photo). 

Of all the Tropicálistas, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso were the ones who worked together most often and this made them the movement's leaders and main figureheads. From the time they were both living in Salvador, they had always stimulated each other's creativity. 

...Tom Zé, and Nara Leão, and also featured the conductor Rogério Duprat, as well as the poets Torquato Neto and José Carlos Capinan.

As well as being a song by Caetano, Divino Maravilhoso became the title of a weekly show for the TV Tupi network. It was directed by Fernando Faro and Antônio Abujamra, with novelist Cassiano Gabus Mendes working on picture editing. 

In one scene, Caetano Veloso was locked in a cage eating bananas and raising his legs. Caetano, Gil, and Gal also used the program to introduce new Brazilian talent such as Jorge Ben and Jards Macalé. Nara Leão, Os Mutantes, Beat Boys, and others also made guest appearances.

Once immersed in the world of music, Gilberto Gil set about establishing his own style. He became a visual and fashion icon, and has continued to change his look throughout his life.

Tropicália, or Tropicalism, became known as the movement that mixed rock and Brazilian music. In the early days, soon after he first arrived in São Paulo, Gilberto Gil took part in a protest against the electric guitar with fans of bossa nova and Brazilian Popular Music (MPB)—two genres in which the acoustic guitar is the predominant instrument. 

 The other Tropicálistas were huge fans of the singer-songwriter Roberto Carlos and other iconic figures from Brazil's second rock movement, known as the Jovem Guarda (Young Guard).

The Tropicália movement came about during a turbulent time in Brazilian politics. Brazil had been under a military dictatorship since 1964. The coup d'état—or the 1964 Revolution, as the Brazilian military referred to it—had closed down the government of democratically elected President João Goulart, or Jango as he was often called. 

During the raid, an 18-year-old student died when the police shot him point-blank in the chest. His death led to one of the largest protests of the time, the March of the One Hundred Thousand, which was the number of people it brought out onto the streets in Rio de Janeiro. 

Organized by the student movement, the demonstration took place on June 26, 1968, with artists like Gilberto Gil joining the people in protest against the military government.

Released in 1965, Procissão was Gilberto Gil's first official single for Philips Records. In May 1967, the singer-songwriter made his debut album, Louvação, for the same record label. The album sees Gil reviving his Northeastern roots, focusing on rhythms like baião, and celebrating bossa nova and samba. 

The album also raises questions about social issues, religion, and the government's views. Less than one year later, in March 1968, the record label released Pega a Voga, Cabeludo, the first single from his second album, which came out in May.

 The Gilberto Gil album became one of the most important of the Tropicália movement and, in 2007, Rolling Stone Brazil magazine included it in its top 100 albums of Brazilian music.