Documents from Gilberto Gil's Private Archive

Tropicalism's rich tapestry has since attracted such prominent fans as David Byrne, Paul Simon and Beck, but its early political content offended the nation's 1964-1985 military dictatorship. Both Gil and Veloso were jailed in 1968 after angering the right-wing regime with their music. They went into exile in London in 1969, and stayed there until 1972. Upon their return home, the two were more famous than ever, a kind of Brazilian John Lennon and Paul McCartney. "Lennon and McCartney were different in that they composed a lot together but Caetano and Gil were definitely the leading duo of the Tropicalism world," said Christopher Dunn, a professor of Brazilian literature and culture at Tulane University in New Orleans. Gil later traveled to Nigeria and recorded one of his most important albums, "Refavela," which fused Brazilian music with Afro-funk, and became a major figure in Brazil's nascent black consciousness movement. After the dictatorship ended, Gil's musical rebelliousness mellowed. "In the beginning, my work as a composer, you can see at least 60 percent to 70 percent of my songs were devoted to revolution, the capacity to transform society, denounce human exploitation and inequities," he said. "Over the years, you can seen more presence of other more existential, trans-religious themes. Let's say I've moved from the political to the philosophical." But Gil has only gotten deeper into politics _ he was culture secretary and then city councilor in his hometown of Salvador in northeastern Brazil, promoted environmental protection of Brazil's rivers as chairman of the Blue Wave group, and became a prominent member of the nation's Green Party. The Greens later allied with the Workers' Party of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Gil agreed to become Brazil's culture minister, as long as he could still perform. As Brazil's second black Cabinet minister _ after soccer star Pele's run as the sports minister in the 1990s _ Gil oversees the funding of arts endowments, works to preserve historical monuments and generally promotes Brazilian culture. Criticism that his music would get in the way quickly evaporated as Gil boosted the ministry's budget 50 percent. Gil also has become a leader in the digital rights movement, advocating free open source software and less rigid copyright protections for intellectual property. "His importance is huge, it's immense," said John Perry Barlow, the former lyricist for the Grateful Dead and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation who has become a close friend. Gil, who is married to his fourth wife, Flora, has four surviving children (one died in a 1990 car accident) and acknowledges that his musical creativity has suffered with all the extracurricular activity. His last major album with all new music was "Quanta" in 1998. So this tour comes as a relief, even a vacation, from his life in Brazil. "As minister I'm not allowed to exercise my career as a full-time musician, so it's kind of like going on a holiday from the job," Gil says. © 2007 The Associated Press Ads by Google