Documents from Gilberto Gil's Private Archive

Music very common for people in Brazil to draw a parallel between the work of the two artists. Caetano on many occasions receives more media attention and popular acclaim than Gil. There are those who laud the greatness of Caetano's poetry and singing, refering to Gil as merely an excellent creator of beautiful melodies. But Gil's art goes beyond these preconceptions. In a musical career spanning more than thirty- five years he has surprised, seduced and stirred emotions by not only the musical diversity on display ink. mba, ballad, afoxé, baio, delicate songs- but also, or rather principally, because of the unrivalled quality of his poetry and his refined sensibility as an interpreter. Lyrics and music are intertwined in Gilberto Gil's art. It is a finely-woven musical tapestry, where the northeast of Brazil and the cosmopolitan universe live together in harmony. The work contained on the recently-released Ensaio Geral by Universal (ex-Polygram) is perfect proof that Gil is second to none when it comes to combining his roots with the parabolic'antennae spread throughout the modern world. The Box This box set contains not only all of Gilberto Gil's solo recordings from the Polygram catalogue (on six CDs). but also four new ones (five. if we count the free CD, or even seven. considering that there are two double albums). Ensaio Geral is the result of three years of enterprising research in the Polygram archives by the researcher and produ- cer Marcelo Froes. Besides the musical quality of this project it is worth noting the graphic design, which transports us back to the era of vinyl records. All this is complement- ed by a sumptuous book, filled with facts and photos, as well as analytical and historical texts by the journalist Carlos Renno and Marcelo Froes. The end pro- duct is abundant and of surprising quality: live concert record- ings, tracks omitted from the original albums, old singles, and even an unreleased album from 1973. According to Marcelo Froes, "the unheard material derives from live recordings of Gilberto Gil concerts made by Polygram between 1972 and 1977. We listened to all of the original tape recordings of Gil's sessions at Polygram between 1966 and 1976 four track mixes were from 1966 1972 and eight track mixes were from 1973-1976. Gil and Polygram became acquainted with the material from the master mix. After careful analysis of the recordings we were able to produce the box in the best possible way for its release. Gilberto Gil's personal assessment of the end result of all this work: "This box contains the fruit of months of work digging and delving into my musical past by Marcelo Froes. With his keen eye and unique insight, he has excavated musical artifacts from my time at Philips, Phonogram and Polygram, carefully removing layer upon layer and unearthing hidden treasures from the past. I am eternally grateful to him for having rediscovered and unveiled so many facets and faces of myself that even I had forgotten about!" The Divine Contents of the Box A multi-faceted and versatile artist, in tune with the present and geared to the future, Gilberto Gil expresses himself in as many ways as his creative energy allows. The CDs that make up the Ensaio Geral box reflect and greatly enlarge the inherent timelessness of his work. Let's plunge into it: Louvação (1967), his first solo work. shows a poet traveling between post-bossanova lyricism