Gilberto Gil: Albums with Friends - Part 1

History has always shown that artistic movements are more successful when they are a collective endeavor. Gilberto Gil planned out the Tropicalist movement before giving the project its name.

He never imagined that he would be one of those responsible for one of the most revolutionary movements Brazil has ever seen when he joined partners like:

the singer-songwriter Caetano Veloso, vocalist Gal Costa, singer-songwriter Tom Zé, poet and songwriter Torquato Neto, the band Os Mutantes, and others to work on music.

When they started working together, attracting other artists who sympathised with their ideas—such as the singer-songwriter Jorge Ben Jor, singer Nara Leão, lyricist Capinam, and conductor Rogério Duprat—they also began to attract attention and make history. 

As well as taking great pleasure in sharing the stage and studio with other artists, Gil learned that strength lies in unity and has collaborated with others many times throughout his life.

It all began in Salvador, when Gilberto Gil first met Caetano Veloso and the pair started sharing experiences and working together. Caetano directed Gil's first ever live concert in the Bahian capital.

The pair later left Bahia with the singer Gal Costa, and moved to São Paulo, where they met other people who were also interested in the reflective and creative process. 

They would regularly meet up to talk and write songs, and had a lot of fun together. Many of their ideas ended up being performed on stage at music festivals, which they started taking part in from 1966. 

Others found their way onto the album Tropicália or Panis et Circencis—a collective effort featuring Gil, Caetano, Gal, Tom Zé, Os Mutantes, Nara Leão, Torquato Neto, Capinam, and Rogério Duprat. The album was arranged by Rogério Duprat and produced by Manuel Barenbein.

The group would record this album—a kind of manifesto for the Tropicália movement—in May 1968, at the RGE (Rádio Gravações Especializadas) studio in São Paulo. Caetano wanted his sister Maria Bethânia to join them. 

In his eyes, he had her to thank for his musical career: if it weren't for Bethânia, Caetano would never have left the small town of Santo Amaro da Purificação where he was born. But she turned down the invitation because she had already decided not to get involved with artistic groups or movements.

So it was left to him, Gil, Os Mutantes, Nara Leão, and Gal Costa to deliver the album, with Rogério Duprat doing the arrangements. Caetano oversaw the project and decided on the song list, which did not include the song that the album was named after.

Tropicália (Caetano Veloso) was not featured in the collective album, because Caetano had already released it on his debut LP. However, it did include Caetano and Gil's Panis et Circensis, sung by Os Mutantes. 

They misspelled the name of both the song and the album, since the correct spelling of the Latin word for circus is "circenses."

The song list for Tropicália ou Panis et Circencis included Miserere Nóbis, which was written and sung by Gilberto Gil.

Caetano sang Vicente Celestino's Coração Materno, while the task of singing Caetano and Gil's song Lindonéia fell to Nara Leão, a bossa nova vocalist who had been won over by the innovative Tropicália movement. 

Caetano, Gil, and Os Mutantes performed Tom Zé's Parque Industrial while Gil himself sang.

Caetano's song Baby became a beautiful duet between himself and Gal Costa, while Caetano and Gil covered Três Caravelas (a João de Barros version of the song written by A. Algueró Jr. and G. Moreu).

Caetano sang his own song Enquanto Seu Lobo Não Vem, while Mamãe Coragem, the song he cowrote with Torquato, was left to Gal. Caetano and Gil's Bat Macumba was recorded by Gil, and João Antônio Wanderley's Hino ao Senhor do Bonfim by Caetano, Gil, Gal, and Os Mutantes. 

The Tropicália ou Panis et Circencis cover photo was taken by the publishing company Editora Abril's photographer, Olivier Perroy, at his São Paulo home in Buritama Square (Praça Buritama), just off Brigadeiro Faria Lima Avenue. A colonial-style stained glass window in Perroy's garden was the backdrop for the shot.  

Nara Leão and Capinam did not arrive in time to be in the photo, but Gil held a framed photo of Capinam while Caetano posed with a framed picture of Nara. Tom Zé had grabbed a suitcase to make it look like he had just arrived from northeastern Brazil.

Tropicália ou Panis Et Circencis was released in 1968, when the ever-watchful censors were directing their attention towards artists more than ever before. The Public Entertainment Censorship Service (Serviço de Censura de Diversões Públicas) had been set up in 1945 but had interfered little in artistic work.

Following the 1964 coup d'état—which saw the military take power and assume the Brazilian presidency—the censors returned with greatly increased powers and began assessing works subjectively.

Any expression involving any kind of criticism of the regime was considered subversive. 

 In the eyes of the censors, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso's songs fell into this category. In December 1968, after taking part in TV Globo's 3rd International Song Festival (Festival Internacional da Canção), Gil and Caetano were arrested. 

On their release, the pair returned to Salvador and planned the Barra 69 concert to raise the funds they needed to go into exile.

When they arrived in Salvador in February 1969, just after Carnival, Gil and Caetano were placed under police surveillance. Tired of being persecuted and realizing that it would be difficult to continue their careers under such pressure, they planned to leave the country.

Held on July 20 and 21 at the Castro Alves Theater (Teatro Castro Alves) in Salvador, the Barra 69 concerts sought to raise funds for the trip that Gil and Caetano were about to take with their respective wives, Sandra Gadelha and Dedé Gadelha. 

..Perinho and Djalma (live recording at the Castro Alves Theater); and Artur Ikissima (photography). The recordings defied a military order that the concert could not be taped. Roberto Santanta, a producer, confirms that Perinho had his permission to do it, using an Akai recorder

Temporada de Verão - Ao Vivo na Bahia  is the name of the live album recorded during a concert Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, and Gal Costa did at Salvador's Vila Velha Theater (Teatro Vila Velha) in 1974.

The set list included: Péricles Cavalcanti's Quem Nasceu; Caetano Veloso's De Noite Na Cama and O Conteúdo; João Donato and Paulo César Pinheiro's Terramoto; Jorge Mautner's O Relógio Quebrou;

 Gilberto Gil's O Sonho Acabou; Buco do Pandeiro and Jackson do Pandeiro's Cantiga do Sapo; Cartola's Acontece; and Lupicínio Rodrigues' Felicidade Foi Embora.

The friendship between Gilberto Gil and Jorge Ben started during the song festival era, when the Tropicália movement was just starting to take off.. However, Gil had been his fan long before leaving Bahia, when Jorge Ben released his debut album Samba Esquema Novo (1963).

Jorge came to be considered a Tropicálista since his music was also a fusion of styles that set it apart from anything being produced on the Brazilian scene at that time. 

Rock 'n' roll, samba, samba rock, bossa nova, jazz, funk, and ska were just some of the rhythms running through his humorous and satirical songs, as he incorporated new elements into the swing of his music. 

The Rio-born singer-songwriter's debut album was released in 1963. By the time he was planning to record an album with Gilberto Gil, Jorge Ben had already released 11, including one of his greatest, A Tábua de Esmeralda (1974).

 Jorge appeared with Gil at other concerts and, in 1975, they recorded the joint album Gil & Jorge: Ogum, Xangô. This was Gil's seventh studio album and is notable for the improvisation and interaction between the two performers on almost all its tracks, making some of them very long. 

Taj Mahal is almost 15 minutes long and Filhos de Gandhi over 13 minutes. The album features just four previously unrecorded songs: Meu Glorioso São Cristovão; Jurubeba; Filhos de Gandhi; and Sarro. The rest of the album is made up of rerecordings: 

Nega, Essa É pra Tocar no Rádio, Quem Mandou (Pé na Estrada), Taj Mahal e Morre o Burro, and Fica o Homem.

In 1976, the singer-songwriters Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, and the vocalists Gal Costa and Maria Bethânia, were celebrating 10 years in music. To commemorate this milestone, the quartet—who, with the exception of Bethânia, had all been Tropicálistas—decided to get together and put on a concert. 

This project, which Bethânia christened Doces Bárbaros (Sweet Barbarians), was to be a concert tour, with songs written by Gil and Caetano exclusively for the concerts, plus a few cover versions. The four performers would take it in turns to sing on stage.

 With Caetano and Gil in charge of the general and musical direction respectively, the show was a mix of regionalism and innovation, with the four hippie performers exuding a sense of freedom on stage.

The concert opened in São Paulo before having a two-month run in Rio de Janeiro, and visiting several Brazilian state capitals. The concert became an album, titled Doces Bárbaros: Ao Vivo, released by the record company PolyGram in 1976. 

The album is now considered one of Brazilian music's greatest masterpieces, but it was criticized at the time because four of the songs were studio recordings, despite it being released as a live album.

They were: Esotérico, Chuckberry Fields Forever, São João Xangô Menino and O Seu Amor.

Their set list included: Gênesis, Um Índio, Eu Te Amo, Peixe, Os Mais Doces Bárbaros, and Pássaro Proibido (all sung by Caetano Veloso, and the last one as a duet with Bethânia); São João Xangô Menino, and Quando (all sung by Caetano and Gil, with the last one also featuring Gal Costa);

 Chuckberry Fields Forever, Eu e Ela Estávamos Ali Encostados Na Parede, Esotérico, O Seu Amor, Pé Quente, Cabeça Fria, and Nós, Por Exemplo (all sung by Gil).

 They performed cover versions of Fé Cega, Faca Amolada by Milton Nascimento and Ronaldo Bastos, Atiraste Uma Pedra by Herivelto Martins and David Nassar, and Tarasca Guidon by Waly Salomão.