Gilberto Gil and the quarantine imposed by coronavirus

And precisely to give light and warmth to confinement, the BaianaSystem group decided to release their new album, in partnership with Gil: “This work has a continuity effect in a timeless sense, because Gil is what is in us…

“… It has a lot to do with our political moment, for sure. Also with quarantine, the fact that we can teleport people to this feeling of a sunny concert with 40,000 people.”

With these words, Russo Passapusso, singer and songwriter for the band from Bahia, summed up the mission behind the release of Gil Baiana ao Vivo em Salvador, in an interview to newspaper Folha de S.Paulo.

What was apparently a moment of withdrawal became, in Gil’s opinion, a paradoxical accumulation of demands:

from cutting grandson Dom’s hair to watching the Covid-19 coverage in specialized websites and newscasts.

“We never had so many people asking to do things, to answer this, to do lives, like now. We’ve been spending many hours of our day connected to this ample field of electronic connectivity…

“… I watch a lot of television to keep up with the news in Brazilian and international networks, specialized magazines, science and technology websites that are reporting on this broad issue of coronavirus,” he said, at the time.

In fact, it was possible to follow Gil over several platforms, from interviews he gave to printed newspapers to real time via videoconference for Brazilian and international TV channels, including performances made from his living room at the Araras house.

There, surrounded by greenery, he sang and played guitar with granddaughter Flor, by himself or just practiced the chords to his classics.

Gil got a book from daughter Bela Gil, with whom he talked about space and time.

Contemplation is what gives power to thought.

Wisely, Gil never fought with time. He holds its hand and takes it up on its invitation for a ride, attentively observing what the landscape offers along the way.

And, of course, the singer did Facebook lives, for instance, when he announced a discovery: the audio of an interview made by USP students, when he came back from exile, had been found after decades missing.

In the middle of all this, he was paying attention to the recovery of daughter Preta Gil, a victim of Covid-19.

To Gil, the battle of the old Cold War hasn’t ended, just taken on a new shape. And he promised to delineate the tableau of geopolitical disputes with the pandemic.

“The battle between China and United States for the supremacy in international capital is in part connected to lots of the democratic western world, and in another part it is connected to a world inherited by communism,” he observed.

About what the future holds for the post-pandemic, the singer was cautious. “Everything is in standby. It is a suspended suspense. One of the most important tasks in this whole scenario is health care itself,” he warned.

But from empirical data he suggested that state control, which was intensifying, was something to watch for. “What I have given most importance to, in the sense of holding on to impressions that can be tools further on, are the issues of vigilance throughout the world…

“… All of this I won’t say has been worrying me, but I have been keeping it in boxes here and there so I can later express myself about it. Maybe in song, maybe in speech, however it may be.”

Despite everything Gil believes the difficult coronavirus experience can teach us something. “The whole art world was affected very seriously, and this led artists to search for protection in their withdrawal, recording at home…

“… The great museums in Europe and the United States have had to open their collections via internet, remotely. This will leave a mark and new ways of being after the pandemic,” he bet.

“… It is a change that will stay after the pandemic, contrary to neo-liberalism. We are coming back a bit to the social welfare State.”
So be it, Gil!