Documents from Gilberto Gil's Private Archive

Gilberto Gil, at the microphone, during his performance on Wednesday night at Irving Plaza. Gilberto Gil's audience didn't sim- ply clap along when he performed at Irving Plaza on Wednesday night. It clapped in double time, in triple time and in overlapping syncopations, fol- lowing the increasingly elaborate cues of a drummer who made the musical complexities look like fun. That's part of the pleasure of Mr. Gil's music: true to the esthetics of Brazilian pop, it pretends its ingenu- ity comes easily, that the songs just arrived spontaneously. And while the bouncing along, they happen to carry Mr. Gil is one of Brazil's and the world's great songwriters: a tune- smith, poet and band leader whose many ambitions only bolster one an- other. His songs have a lot on their mind: particle physics, love, trains, musical heroes. Above all, he cele- brates the glories and contradictions of Brazil, from its cultural vitality to the lives of its struggling poor. He started the concert on Wednes- day with "Ciencia e Arte," praising Brazil's unheralded achievements; he finished with a song hailing the women of Bahia, his home state. The set featured material from his new album, "Quanta" (Mesa/Time War- POP REVIEW Why Brazilian Complexities Are Fun By JON PARELES ner), in which he invoked African deities, sang about a barefoot crab vendor and, in the title song, consid- ered quantum physics and the fragil- ity of existence, In English-speaking pop, such top- ics tend to arrive wrapped in preten- sions. Mr. Gil, however, draws on his Brazilian heritage - sambas, bossa novas, Afro-Brazilian chants, region- al rhythms - along with infusions of reggae, jazz and rock. His voice is an Gilberto Gil mixes social commentary and dancing drive. THE NEW YORK TIMES, FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1997 FILM REVIEW Theft, Adultery a amiable baritone with a rich falsetto at its disposal; he turned ballads into intimate conversation, made up- tempo songs sound casual and tossed percussive syllables back and forth with his drummers. Linda Rosier for The New York Times The band breezed along, now and then revving up its core of percus- sion. In "Expresso 2222," a train song that repeatedly transformed its rhythms, a triangle solo had the crowd riveted. For part of his two-hour set, Mr. Gil sang in English, paying homage to Bob Marley ("Stir It Up"), Stevie Wonder ("The Secret Life of Plants") and Jimi Hendrix ("Wait Until Tomorrow"). He also applaud ed his Brazilian idols, including Dori- val Caymmi and Antônio Carlos Jo- bim. It was a concert about tradition: about folk rhythms and African-root- ed religion, about Mr. Gil's musical models, about the way such forms as samba and reggae can combine dancing propulsion with social com- mentary. Mr. Gil's respect for his forebears is clearly sincere; he's not out to dethrone past generations but to learn from them. But the concert was also a lesson in modernity, about not being con- fined or intimidated by tradition. Mr. Gil freely combined and hybridized his sources (and his own older songs). After "De Ouro e Marfim" (or Gold and Ivory'), a tribute to Jobim using the samba-reggae beat of Ba- hia, Mr. Gil sang Jobim's "Girl From Ipanema," but he turned the classic bossa nova into reggae, lacing it with saxophone licks from the Wailers. Here's how to live with the weight of tradition, Mr. Gil's music suggests: keep your ears open and use what you love By STEPHEN HOLDEN John Power, the fearsomely proud godfather to a network of itinerant Irish gypsies, petty thieves and shady salesmen known as travelers, is a man in his late 60's who is not prepared to go gentle into that good night. In Richard Harris's fiery portray. al, his ramrod strut and angry roos- ter eyes belie the years that have left his gaunt face ravaged and his hair snow-white. When Power gets soused in a pub, he flies into a violent fury of macho arm-flexing. He bullishly marries a hotblooded woman named Kathleen (Aislin McGuckin), who is one-third his age, in the full knowledge that she has been having an affair with his handsome nephew, Dermot (Stuart Townsend). At the wedding banquet, friends exchange knowing glances and titters, as a folk singer croons a cautionary dirge, "Love Makes a Fool of You." When immediately af- ter the ceremony, Dermot and Kath. leen flee with an £11,000 dowry col- lected from the wedding guests, Power is still willing to take her back Mr. Harris's commanding per- formance, full of wounded arro- gance, is the best reason for seeing "Trojan Eddie," a bleak, unsenti mental and extremely muddled por- trait of a group of travelers in a small Irish town. The second-best reason is Stephen Rea's portrayal of the film's mercurial title character, who is Powers's most talented em- ployee A sad sack and worry wart, Eddie has worked for Power since serving time for a bungled burglary with his best friend, Raymie (Sean McGin- ley). The only time Eddie's face isn't a mask of anxiety is when he is auctioning of consumer products from the back of a van. Only slightly less exuberant than his American counterpart, the maniacal actor in TROJAN EDDIE Directed by Gillies Mackinnon; written by Billy Roche; director of photography, John de Borman; edited by Scott Thomas; music by John Keane; production designer, Frank Con- way, produced by Emma Burge; released by Castle Hill Productions. Running time: 105 minutes. This film is not rated. WITH: Stephen Rea (Trojan Eddie), Richard Harris (John Power), Stuart Townsend (Der- mot). Aislin McGuckin (Kathleen). Sean McGinley (Raymie) and Angeline Ball (Shir. ley) Richard Harri Trojan Eddie the Crazy Edd beams with the perkinetic Sant Christmas goodi These two P emotional weight otherwise crumb ed by Gillies M screenplay by Bi Eddie" tries to ju plots that it leave dangling. The ch lets several opport dramatic confron Most of the charact erly introduced. WI we are left to glean mation we can out o ing, heavily accented The unidentified to characters stomp ar from the picture-perf usually finds in Ir houses are dingy, t soaked. Much of th place in a desolat where the travelers g with the townies. The place is also a mantic frustration. Ed bring up two young da slatternly estranged (Angeline Ball), who ing a place to sleep an hospitality with mockin The movie's attitud young lovers is as hard portraits of middle-ag