Documents from Gilberto Gil's Private Archive

You recorded at Tuff Gong with the Wailers band in 1982 and returned a few years ago for Kaya N'Gan Daya, an album of Marley adaptations. But during the 1990s, your music went in all kinds of different direc- tions. One of the moments that most stands out for me is the Quanta concept album and the Quanta Live Tour that supported it. The Quanta album came at the moment that I had been through the peak of my popularity in terms of radio airplay, concerts, and album sales. That was after I had done some very popu- lar albums like Extra, Raça Humana, and Parabolicamar....I had the sequence of Luar, Um Banda Um, Raça Humana, Dia Dorim Noite Neon. And on the album Parabolicamard, I was already trying to use some songs to discuss the connection between art and technology-the new technologies, the com- puter, the satellite dish—and then I decided that I should go for an album that would be entirely dedicated to the relationship between art and science, which took me three years to produce, as it's a double album with twenty five songs. And for the first time, the live album from Quanta gave me an international Grammy. So it's an outstanding, remarkable album for me, both as content and form. Since you mention technology, tell us a bit about your last album, Banda Larga Cordel. What does the title mean? Banda larga means broadband. Cordel is a kind of popular lit- erature, poetry books by popular artists that are very cheap, sold in fairs, a literature that is from medieval times that became very popular in the Northeast of Brazil. So the cordel is a way to add this vulgarizing element to the broadband message. So, it's the broadband message made popular, made available for the street people. Why call the album that? Because the message is that. We are living in new times, and that coincided with the moment that I opened my world for sharing online: I allowed people to photograph and film me and post the stuff through the Internet. I was stimulating people to do that, and at the same time, I was in the government as a minister pushing for popularizing broadband facilities in Brazil. And culturally, politically, technically, scientifically, technologi- cally, the whole thing was all together, so I decided to call the album Broadband. And I made a special song to get the message through, to compact the message in a one-song model. You allow people to access the album on your website? Not just the album, but all my albums. Won't it deter them from buying the albums? Or maybe the opposite--they will want to buy it. They will be stimulated, pushed into being interested in the album. Or not. It's just a way for them to know my music. Tell me about your years in government. I had an initial experimental experience in Bahia in 1988, when I became a local cultural secretary for the municipality. It came about because the mayor was a friend and I asked him to hire me, because it was when the glasnost, the perestroika, the Gor- bachev thing was going on, which I think was very inspiring- to inspire nonpoliticians to join in politics and help, bringing new ideas, new processes, new models to the public administra- tion. That was when we gave [the Bahian organization] Olo- dum a special treatment, when we gave the Afro institutions in Bahia an upgrade. You were able to implement real change? Yes, implement real political changes through public adminis- tration. That was a first experience that somehow established a link between Gilberto Gil and the governmental sphere. But when Lula was elected, it was the opposite: he invited me, and I said, "Okay, let's do it." I stayed there for almost six years, and we did a lot of good things. We had a lot of opposition. We have people that were reluctant to accept the idea of an artist joining the government, but anyway, it was okay. Was it difficult to continue making music? Or did you drop music for a few years? Basically, I dropped it for a few years. I was not writing songs, touring, or recording, but I kept a very residual activity by going to Europe for one month every year, I would have my holiday period from government, and then do gigs in Europe. I did that for five years as a way to keep in touch with music and with the audiences, not to completely lose track of what I am as an artist. Now I've been out of government for four months already, so I've been able to release a new album and reengage in touring and performing Outside Brazil, what we hear of the Lula presidency is about ninety percent positive. The only negative in- volves corruption. Yeah, that he's not really able to control, something that sur- rounds him, and that's very common. In terms of his leadership and being able to bring new ideas, to implement new processes and programs and make this belief in Brazil's own qualities and Brazil's possibility to spread a message of a soft power—more adequate to contemporary times with a lot of focus on sound environment, sound society, on more equal distribution of eco- nomic and commercial and political power—in those terms, he is a novelty, and he is a success for Brazil, and for the world. When you look back over your career... Almost fifty years now. Is there a moment you are most proud of or nostalgic about? All the moments have their own sense, their own taste, both bitter and sweet. I mean, we'd better have a well-balanced life of bitter and sweet tastes, you know? I have a big family: three marriages, eight children, seven grandchildren, and a good rep- utation as an artist, plus those moments as a public government personality, and lots of friends all over the globe. It's good in retrospect, I think. O Thanks to Flora Gil and family, Priscilla at GeGe Prodaçoes, Liminha, Nelson Mireilles, Otávio Rodrigues, and all others who helped make this interview happen.