Documents from Gilberto Gil's Private Archive

On stage in front of an adoring audience in São Paolo. Luiz Turiba, his press chief, says: 'When Gil performs, he brings the politics into the music.' zen.' Gil admits that Hendrix turned him round. Then, in 1971, he heard Bob Mar- ley's records. 'I was living in Portobello Road then,' he says, 'but I never met him. Throughout the Seventies, while based back in Brazil, Gil travelled the world, per forming in Nigeria in the cause of black unity, and visiting America. 'I saw one of Marley's gigs in LA in 1978 and rushed backstage but he'd gone. He came to Brazil, but I missed him!' Why such an impact? 'First, the peculiarity of that music: the rhythm and the style were different from anything before. And then, of course, the subjects, religion and politics. And the blackness which is part of the politics. But basically, it is always the music that moves me first, the sound. Gil is going to be back on the boards with his full band; in this new era, it is an excit- ing event, because though Gil continues to play regularly and tour the world, no one can tell whether he will always have the time to do so. His daughter Maria has joined us in São Paolo and she is teased mercilessly by the boisterous musicians for her Brasilia ways. As she herds them from the hotel into the bus, her sister Nara - one of Gil's backing singers - hisses 'ministrinho' (little minister) at her, and the others cheer affectionately. Many of the group have worked with Gil for years, and for them, the new job is a disaster. 'We are really pleased for him - but not for us,' says the youngest arrival, exuberant 21-year-old singer Angela Lopo. Gil says he never really planned to be a politician; in fact he has been one since the beginning, a natural orator, an ambassador through music. And he is happy with the new life. "To reduce the music is OK,'he says. “It's been 40 years, you know...I was happy to change the routine.' He enjoys the differences: Travelling as a politician is dif- POLITICIANS ferent: the ambience, the people the moti is dancing, a kind of samba-skanking, with vation - everything. It's exciting. It's offices occasional swoops and bows brought in THOSE OTHER ROCKING and palaces now instead of clubs and gym from candomble. He introduces his band nasiums! effusively and kisses Nara, calling her 'my Doesn't he miss the buzz of being a poplittle black girl'. Maria, standing in the star on stage? 'Yes,' he admits. He recently wings, dances non-stop and says she would did play in Europe, but even then he had a love to be out there with them, but I'm too governmental agenda as well. "For instance, shy.' I had to fly to Portugal to meet the Presi- dent.' Turiba adds: 'For Gil, the job doesn't exclude music or performance. At every opportunity there is music. His worlds are interlinked. When he performs, he brings the politics into the music. Gil's performance fits Caetano Veloso's description of his exuberant musicality, perfect pitch, rhythm and fluency' offered at their first meeting in 1963. Forty years later, audiences around the world have thrilled to the same ingredients. Now that he is a Minister, that may change. On the way to our rooms, I corner Gil for a final chat, and ask how he sees himself in this new role. It is midnight and we are leaving the hotel for the airport at 3.30am, but he rises instantly to the conversation, and stands against the lift and talks. 'I don't deal with hope, I deal with work. I con- sider myself a sower of seeds. One of my golden points is not to turn back to see what is happening, to see what's happen- ing with the seeds; let's keep going sow- ing. It is a feeling I've been developing for a long, long time. I have the feeling that I came to sow things. You have to know what you can do best.' Three weeks later, Gil flew to Miami for the Latin Grammy Awards, where he was made Personality of the Year', and hon- oured in a show involving some of Brazil's best-known pop singers. Then he flew to Santiago de Chile, to participate in the trib- utes to the ultimate troubadour, Victor Jara, who was tortured and killed by Pinochet's government - a few years after Gil himself had been in prison. Then he flew home to Rio for a birthday party for Caetano Veloso, and last month he played guitar to Kofi Annan's bongos, at a concert in New York to honour those killed and injured at the UN base in Baghdad. "Life is good to me,' he said, as I left him for the final time in the airport lounge at some ungodly hour. He was reading a small hardback book on eso- teric pre-Christian religions. OMM Financially, it's not so straightforward. Gil supports a company, Ge-Ge Produc tions, two ex-wives and current wife Flora, and six children (his eldest son was killed in a car crash in 1990). When Lula asked him to be Minister, he said he would have to think whether he could afford it. But for now, he is managing the demands, weath- ering the criticism. 'Everyone wants Lula and Gil to perform miracles straightaway because there are so many problems in Brazil,' says Beth Lima, a cultural correspondent for the leading television station TV Globo. But it's impos- sible to look at what they're doing yet; it's too early. A year on, then we can talk about it. But Gil's a man with a vision; he's an artist and he's sensitive and intelligent. He knows what the culture needs and he knows about the problems of Brazil. It's a blessing to have him in this role. All the other candi- dates for his post were from the old school.' Is Gil not inexperienced in office work? 'He doesn't need experience that's bullshit.' At 10 at night, Gil appears on stage in immaculately pressed white trousers, a crimson shirt and white trainers. He opens the show with Marley's 'Lively Up Yourself pulling the audience towards the stage, and follows with samba-reggae covers of Them Belly Full', 'Three Little Birds', 'Could You Be Loved?', and others from his repertoire of Brazilian classics, including a sultry Girl from Ipanema'. The girls are dancing: Gil 1. Silvio Berlusconi The former cruise- ship crooner turned billionaire Italian Prime Minister plans to release an album of self-penned love ballads, also featuring guitarist Mariano Apicella. 2. Tony Blair Remains an amateur guitarist, following the failure of Ugly Rumours, the band he set up while at Oxford to emulate the Grateful Dead. 3. Sonny Bono The original pop politician- husband of Cher in 1963, Mayor of Palm Springs in 1988, elected to the House of Representatives in 1994, representing California's 44th District. Died in a skiing accident in 1998. 4. Junichro Koizumi The Japanese PM released a personal selection of his favourite Elvis songs two years ago and performed some of the King's hits with Tom Cruise, no less, earlier this year. 5. Ignacy Jan Paderewski The Polish Prime Minister was also a leading classical composer and pianist. 6. Tony Benn Released a selection of his favourite speeches set to hip hop beats by Charles Bailey last month 7. Václav Havel The playwright cum- Czech President's admiration of the Velvet Underground led, more or less directly to the 'Velvet Revolution of 1989, and to a friendship with Lou Reed. October 2003 OMM 41