Gilberto Gil and Every Kind of Award - Part 1

As many fans see it, Gilberto Gil was winning awards from the very beginning. In 1967, he came second with his song Domingo no Parque at Record TV's now legendary 3rd Brazilian Popular Music Festival (Festival de Música Popular Brasileira). He won 16,000 new cruzeiros (the currency at the time)

In the 1960s, these festivals were a major showcase for popular singers and songwriters, with performances going viral, to use an expression that would only become popular decades later.

He also took home another 1,500 for winning Best Arrangement, which was a considerable sum. The winning song was Ponteio, written by Edu Lobo and Capinam, and performed by Edu and Marília Medalha. 

With their songs being played on the radio, the artists performed more and more concerts. They also did the rounds on TV, with contracts for further appearances on the Record TV network.

Gil took part in other festivals but Domingo no Parque—which he sang with the band Os Mutantes—generated some unforgettable scenes and came to be considered as marking the very beginning of the Tropicália movement.

While in exile in London in 1970, Gilberto Gil received the news that Aquele Abraço—his last hit before leaving Brazil—had been awarded the Golfinho de Ouro (Golden Dolphin) prize by the Museum of Image and Sound (MIS) in Rio de Janeiro. 

Gil sent an open letter to Pasquim, a satirical periodical that supported counterculture by publishing criticism of the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985. 

On August 25, 1970, the magazine published Gil's words, in which he declined the award and explained why. He accused the judges of the Superior Council of Brazilian Popular Music (MPB), presided then by MIS director Ricardo Cravo Abin, of being conservatives and said:

"... Statements made by some of the museum's members and the letters I have received clearly show that to be the case. The museum never changes: it is merely a custodian of sunny Rio de Janeiro folklore...

"...I have no reason not to decline an award given for a samba song that they assume was made to protect the ‘purity’ of Brazilian Popular Music (…)

"... And let those who killed my vibe and cut my beard be in no doubt that Aquele Abraço does not mean that I have ‘changed my ways,’ or that I have become a ‘good Creole who churns out samba,’ as those who want all black people to ‘know their place’ would have me be....

"... don't know my place. I don't have a place. I no longer serve at the table of my white masters and nor could I be more saddened by the slave quarters that they are making of Brazil.”

In 1986, with MIS under new management, Gil was once again awarded the Golfinho de Ouro by the Rio de Janeiro State Government. This time, his life having moved on, he accepted the award.

Returning to music, Gil was the big winner at the 10th Shell Awards (Prêmio Shell) for music in 1990, receiving a trophy and a US$10k prize. 

At the award ceremony in Rio de Janeiro's Municipal Theater (Teatro Municipal), he did a show with his band, singing a mixture of old hits like Super-Homem (A Canção) and newer releases like O Eterno Deus Mu Dança. At the time, he gave an interview to the O Globo newspaper appraising his work.

“This award is for all my artistic work throughout my career," he explained. "I have produced a vast amount of work, in terms of quantity and relative quality...

 "... It is very indicative of the path that my middle-class, petit-bourgeois generation has taken, with our popular links and roots in Brazil's rich ethnicity."

In 1994, Gil was honored at the 7th Sharp Awards (Prêmio Sharp) at the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre. He received from Dorival Caymmi retribution for his importance within Brazilian national music.

The following year, he won two Sharp Awards in the categories of Best Brazilian Popular Music Singer and Best Brazilian Popular Music Song for A Novidade, which was a collaboration with the band Os Paralamas do Sucesso. Even after the award changed its sponsor and name, Gil was never forgotten.  

The award's sponsors changed along with its name - now Prêmio Tim de Música  (Tim Music Awards) - but Gil was still remembered, receiving the award in four other years.

In 2002—when it was known as the Prêmio Tim de Música—he was chosen as Best Singer by popular vote, as well as winning Best Regional Singer and Best Regional Album for his live São João Vivo album. 

In 2006, Gil was awarded with best song at the Multishow Brazilian Music Awards for Vamos Fugir. In 2015, his live DVD Gilberto Sambas Live won the Best Especial DVD award at the 26th Brazilian Music Awards.

The following year, his CD Dois Amigos, um Século de Música, in partnership with Caetano Veloso, received the 27th Brazilian Music Award in the Best MPB Album category.