By Instituto Gilberto Gil
Text: Tito Guedes, writer
Gilberto Gil has said in interviews that he rather do a concert than record an album. His preference, however, has not kept him from being a great studio musician. The proof is eternized in his discography, full of albums celebrated as truly classics of the national—and international—repertoire. To achieve this, there was a fundamental need, in addition to choosing good musicians, of a consistent and successful dialogue with musical producers, the professionals in charge of conducting the team in studio and of giving artist’s idea a final shape. Gilberto Gil have worked with several producers who were key to his trajectory and knew how to change the way he communicated with them throughout his career.
Gilberto Gil em apresentação na década de 1960 (1968)Instituto Gilberto Gil
The first years
At the beginning, Gil used to have a reclusive attitude towards the producers’ work. He would bring his songs and let them conduct the process of turning these into phonograms.
Gilberto Gil e seu violão na década de 1960 (Década de 1960)Instituto Gilberto Gil
This had happened, for instance, when he recorded his first compacts and first album, Louvação (1967), under the production of João Mello.
Gilberto Gil no III Festival da Música Popular Brasileira (1967)Instituto Gilberto Gil
In the following years, it worked the same way when he collaborated with other producers that helped shape the changings in his musical style and his maturation as songwriter. Such is the case, for instance, of Manuel Barebein, who was his producer during the Tropicália phase.
Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso, Jorge Ben e os Mutantes (1968)Instituto Gilberto Gil
Barebein produced albums released in 1968 and 1969, as well as the manifest-album Tropicália ou Panis et Circensis, which gathered several artists of the musical movement that promoted a revolution in the scene of the Brazilian music in the 1960s, such as Caetano Veloso, Tom Zé, Os Mutantes, and Nara Leão.
Maturing in the studio
The turning point in his relationship with producers and recording studios happened with the Expresso 2222 album, from 1972, the first one after his return from exile in London, due to repression from the military dictatorship then running Brazil. The abundant contributions offered by producer Roberto Menescal, an instrumentist and songwriter well-known for his association to bossa nova, added to Gil’s experiences on British stages and to his growing intimacy with new sounds and instruments, such as the electric guitar, and caused Gil to adopt, from then on, more of an autonomous attitude in regards to the artistic choices of his albums.
Gilberto Gil e o produtor Marco Mazzola recebem o disco de platina pelo compacto Não Chore Mais (1979)Instituto Gilberto Gil
Band leader attitude
It was this bandleader attitude that he adopted in the recording of the following albums, when he worked with producers like Perinho Albuquerque and Marco Mazzola. During the record of Refazenda (1975), Mazzola and Perinho shared production.
Gilberto Gil e o produtor Marco Mazzola recebem o disco de platina pelo compacto Não Chore Mais (1979)Instituto Gilberto Gil
After working with Roberto Sant’Ana in Refavela (1977), Gil met Mazzola again in the studio during the recording of Realce (1979), album that earned him a platinum disc.
Gilberto Gil's interview for TV Cultura (1990)Instituto Gilberto Gil
The Liminha era
It was 1981 when Gilberto Gil joined the most frequent producer of his discographic career. Arnolpho Lima Filho, known as Liminha (or “Limoso”, in Gil’s pet name). They have known each other since the 1960s, when Liminha played bass for Os Mutantes, with whom Gil played together in some concerts. In 1981, Liminha worked for the Warner Music record label, and had a rising career as musical producer, having in his portfolio historic albums, such as Maria Fumaça (by Banda Black Rio, from 1977) and Frenéticas (by grupo As Frenéticas, also from 1977).
Gilberto Gil e o produtor Liminha nas gravações da canção Vamos Fugir, para o álbum Raça Humana (1984-04-27)Instituto Gilberto Gil
The beginning
Impressed by Liminha’s portfolio, Gil invited him to produce the record Luar (a gente precisa ver o luar) in 1981.
Gilberto Gil e o produtor Liminha na gravação do álbum Raça Humana na JamaicaInstituto Gilberto Gil
Soon after, there were the albums Um Banda Um (1982) and Extra (1983), two proofs that the dialogue was successful.
Liminha na gravação do álbum Raça Humana na JamaicaInstituto Gilberto Gil
From that moment on, they consolidated a partnership that lasted decades and yielded fourteen records altogether.
Gilberto Gil no estúdio Nas NuvensInstituto Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Gil no estúdio Nas NuvensInstituto Gilberto Gil
A private studio
The two became business partners in the opening of the recording studio Nas Nuvens, in Jardim Botânico neighborhood, Rio de Janeiro, which have turned the stage for the production of historic albums of Brazilian music. The place had turned, according to Liminha, into a “cultural center”, a hot spot for artists.
Gilberto Gil no estúdio Nas NuvensInstituto Gilberto Gil
Unlike other studios, usually located in the closed corridors of big offices buildings, Nas Nuvens was inaugurated in one of the greener neighborhoods of the city, even having a backyard and plenty of room.
Recorded in 1984, Raça Humana was the first of Gil’s albums produced in the studio. In addition to the hits “Pessoa nefasta,” “Tempo rei,” and “Indigo blue,” the work also had “Vamos fugir,” a partnership of Gil and Liminha recorded in Jamaica, featuring The Wailers, the band who used to accompany Bob Marley (1945–1981), Jamaican singer and songwriter creator of the reggae who has so deeply influenced Gilberto Gil. Around that time, Gil had totally assumed a bandleader attitude, but has always been open to the sound novelties Liminha would propose to him. No wonder, the time in which they worked together represented, in Gil’s career, a very successful turn towards pop and rock, genres in which Liminha has always been a specialist.
Gilberto Gil, o produtor Liminha, e os integrantes da banda The Wailers Calvin Bubbles Cameron, David Madden e Lloyd Wiilis, durante gravação da canção Vamos Fugir para o álbum Raça Humana (1984-04-27)Instituto Gilberto Gil
The clicking is God
Less interested in technicalities of the recording, Gil would let the producer run the equipment. He used to say “the clicking is God” (the metronome should be obeyed), but, in case he had a sudden intuition, it should be followed.
Gilberto Gil e Liminha na Jamaica (1984)Instituto Gilberto Gil
In the 1980s, the two worked in the albums Quilombo (1984), recording the soundtrack of the homonymous movie by cineaste Cacá Diegues, Dia Dorim Noite Neon (1985), Soy Loco Por Ti America (1987), and Gilberto Gil em Concerto (1987)
Gilberto Gil, Liminha e banda recebem o Disco de Ouro pelo álbum Quanta (1997)Instituto Gilberto Gil
In the 1990s, they worked on Parabolicamará (1992), Tropicália 2 (1993), which set his reunion with musician and partner Caetano Veloso, and Quanta (1997). In the 2000s, they met again in three projects: Eletroacústico (2004), Banda Larga Cordel (2008), and BandaDois (2009).
An experience with Tom Capone
In 2002, a contract misunderstanding kept Gilberto Gil and Liminha shortly apart. Gil was still at Warner Music, but Liminha had already signed with Sony Music, as a producer, which kept him from producing the album Kaya N’Gan Daya, an homage by the Bahia-born musician to one of his greatest idols, Bob Marley. The production, then, was commissioned to Tom Capone, a Paraná-born who first started his career in Brasília, during the 1980s, when Brazil’s capital was living the fever of the rock’n’roll movement. Yet it was not their first contact. In 1998, Capone had assumed the artistic direction at Warner Music. It was him, therefore, the artistic director of albums Gil & Milton (2000), in which the Bahia-born joined partner Milton Nascimento; Eu, Tu, Eles (2000) and São João Vivo (2001), works that paid homage to songwriter and accordionist Luiz Gonzaga (1912–1989) based on the soundtrack of the Eu, Tu, Eles movie, by Andrucha Waddington.
Gilberto Gil com equipe do álbum Kaya N'Gan Daya (2001)Instituto Gilberto Gil
Capone in Jamaica
When Capone joined Gil in the production of Kaya N’Gan Daya, he became part of one of the most important moments in musician’s career. That is the case because most of the album was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica, in legendary Tuff Gong Studios, with some musicians who had played with Bob Marley.
Gilberto Gil assina contrato com o selo WEA, da Warner Music (2000-04)Instituto Gilberto Gil
In Brazil, Tom Capone gathered Brazilian artists in his studio, Toca do Bandido, and added berimbaus, accordions and flutes, which lent the album a northeastern identity, leading to Kaya N’Gan Daya ao Vivo in 2003.
Gilberto Gil e Tom Capone no camarim do show Kaya N' Gan Daya (2002-05)Instituto Gilberto Gil
The early passing of Tom Capone, in 2004, in a motorcycle accident, prevented partnership to move forward, but the short time they have worked together was long enough to list Capone among the most important producers within Gilberto Gil’s discography.
Bem Gil, son and producer
Bem Gil, born in 1985, is the sixth son of Gilberto Gil and his first with wife and manager, Flora Gil. Having an interest in music from an early age, he saw an idol in his father and became a guitar player. Early on, he used to play with his father during Bahia’s Carnaval, and, in 2006, he became an official member of the band. Eventually, just as Bem had seen an idol in his father, it did not take much for Gil to see a producer in his son.
Gilberto Gil e Bem Gil em ensaio para lançamento do álbum Fé Na Festa no estúdio Palco (2010-04-30)Instituto Gilberto Gil
Starting to produce
After gaining experience as artistic direction assistant in the production of the álbum Fé na Festa ao Vivo (2010), in 2014 Bem took over the production of the album Gilbertos Samba, sided by musician Moreno Veloso, Caetano Veloso’s son.
Gilberto Gil, Bem Gil, Sérgio Chiavazzoli, Thiago Braga e Toninho Ferragutti no estúdio Palco (Abril de 2010)Instituto Gilberto Gil
In 2018, Bem produced OK OK OK, an album of unreleased and authorial songs, which reflect the memories, affections, and state of mind of the Bahia-born songwriter at that time.
Gilberto Gil e Bem Gil em ensaio para lançamento do álbum Fé Na Festa no estúdio Palco (2010-04-30)Instituto Gilberto Gil
The album won a Latin Grammy in 2019, in the category Best MPB Album, consolidating Gil’s maturation as musical producer and announcing a new phase in Gil’s career.
Gilberto Gil e Bem Gil em ensaio para lançamento do álbum Fé Na Festa no estúdio Palco (2010-04-30)Instituto Gilberto Gil
Exhibit credits
Text and research: Tito Guedes
Assembly and editing: Chris Fuscaldo
Acknowledgments: Liminha
General credits
Editing and curating: Chris Fuscaldo / Garota FM
Musical content research: Ceci Alves, Chris Fuscaldo, and Ricardo Schott
MinC content research: Carla Peixoto, Ceci Alves, Chris Fuscaldo, and Laura Zandonadi
Photo subtitles: Anna Durão, Carla Peixoto, Ceci Alves, Chris Fuscaldo, Daniel Malafaia, Gilberto Porcidonio, Kamille Viola, Laura Zandonadi, Lucas Vieira, Luciana Azevedo, Patrícia Sá Rêgo, Pedro Felitte, Ricardo Schott, Roni Filgueiras, and Tito Guedes
Data editing: Isabela Marinho
Acknowledgments: Gege Produções, Gilberto Gil, Flora Gil, Gilda Mattoso, Fafá Giordano, Maria Gil, Meny Lopes, Nelci Frangipani, Cristina Doria, Daniella Bartolini, and all photographers and characters in the stories
All media: Instituto Gilberto Gil
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