Documents from Gilberto Gil's Private Archive

Gilberto Gil Hears the Future, Some Rights Reserved - New York Times 03/11/2007 09:36 AM to one of their own, and responded with manifestos criticizing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's choice of a pop star thought to be ideologically suspect. "You have to remember that Tropicalismo was fought by the traditional Stalinist left, and that even today some of those same people are in the Workers Party and the unions,” said Mr. Motta, who is also the author of “Tropical Nights," a history of Brazilian popular music since the 1960s. “They want to bring culture under state control and know nothing about the digital world and the Internet, so of course they oppose a true revolutionary like Gil, who has always pushed for new things." Since Mr. Gil became minister, Brazilian government spending on culture has grown by more than 50 percent, testimony both to his prestige and negotiating skills. As minister he has devoted time to selling Brazilian music abroad, but has also labored to draw attention to Brazilian film, painting, sculpture and literature in foreign markets. "One thing to remember about Gil," said Hermano Vianna, an anthropologist, writer and a leading figure in Brazil's digital culture movement, is that “he sees culture not just as art, but also as an industry. To Gil culture is not just an accessory but an important part of the economy and even a motor of economic development." Over the last four years, though, Mr. Gil has cut way back on his own performances, the part of being a musician he says he enjoys most, and nearly stopped recording. His most recent disc, “Gil Luminoso," is a collection of 15 of his songs, including “Electronic Brain,” that he rerecorded in 1999 with just voice and guitar, to accompany a book about him. Why give up something as gratifying as playing music for the wear and tear of public administration? “Life is not just pleasure,” he said. “The first phrase of the Vedic scriptures is that 'All is suffering.' Difficulty is stimulating, challenging, it's an element of the pulse of life.” Besides, he is at a point in life "where I no longer want to have a commitment to my career, in the classical sense of a profession," he said. “I no longer see music as a field to be exploited. I see it now as an alternative area of action, part of a broad repertory of possibilities that I have. Music is something visceral in me, something that exudes from me, and even when I'm not thinking about it, I will still be making music, always." Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company Privacy Policy | Search | Corrections | RSS | First Look Help Contact Us | Work for Us Site Map Page 5 of 5