Documents from Gilberto Gil's Private Archive

ARTS ROUNDUP WEEKEND PERFORMANCES IN REVIEW Gil, Costa show they still have the power to thrill By FERNANDO GONZALEZ Herald Pop Music Critic Anniversaries of revolutions are trou- bling affairs reminders that time corrodes ideals, energy wanes and the spark of a surprise is short-lived. Twenty-five years ago, Tropicalia shook up Brazilian culture. Gilberto Gil With a sort of backyard-grown postmodernist atti- tude and a Dadaist glint in their eyes, singer-songwriters Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso and singers Gal Costa and Maria Bethania spearheaded a movement that PLEASE SEE ROUNDUP, 2C ROUNDUP, FROM 1C set out to energize Brazilian pop- ular music with a jolt of electric guitars, blues, rock 'n' roll and post-Eleanor Rigby Beatles. That much of this sounds somewhat quaint and familiar is perhaps the best proof of their success. And yet, at the Jackie Gleason Theater on Saturday, Gil and Costa proved they can still chal- lenge and, on occasion, even marvel. It is not MUSIC entirely surpris- Gilhas ing. made a career of alchemizing global styles into local music and vice versa - a logical extension of Tropicalia. Costa, a diva who at times seemed bent on wasting her talents on inferior commer- cial pop, hasn't lost her impecca- ble rhythmic sense or her gift for nuance. The concert itself was slow going at first, however. Accompanied by a strong five- piece group, Gil opened with Parabolicamara, an astute medi- tation on the changes brought by technology, and the reggae-ish Vamos Fugir (Let's Escape) and Nos Barracos Da Cidade (in the Shacks of the City). The songs are compelling, but the perfor- mances were merely proficient rather than inspired. Costa then joined him for workmanlike versions of Falsa Bahiana and Cole Porter's The Laziest (Gal in Town), smoothing somewhat the ensemble's rough edges, adding a certain dulling elegance. She sounded miscast in the grittier, rootsier Afro-Brazil- ian drumming pieces such as the afoxe D'Oxum or the samba-reg- gae Olodum, a tribute to the Bloco Afro (a cultural group of the same name, best known in the United States for its collabo- ration with singer Paul Simon.) It was Gil who, two-thirds of the way into the program, finally ignited the feet and spirits of the near-sellout audience - alarm- ing the extremely uptight security people at the Gleason who appar- ently haven't seen people danc- ing in the aisles in some time. The catchy Palco, a song seem- ingly made for audience singa- longs, broke the ice and Gil fol- lowed with strong, personal versions of Bob Marley's Stir It Up and No Woman No Cry. From then on, it turned into a celebration Even 25 years later, this revo- lution is worth dancing to. MONDAY, APRIL 4, 1994 The Miami Herald CONTENTS COPYRIGHT © 1994 THE MIAMI HERALD