Gilberto Gil: Albums with Friends - Part 2

Rita Lee's contribution includes her song Ovelha Negra, and one she cowrote with the budding author Paulo Coelho, titled Arrombou a Festa. The song Giló, which Rita wrote for Gil, is a celebration of their friendship.

The duo's show and album also included a tropical cover version of Get Back by The Beatles—called De Leve in Portuguese—and a sarcastic cover version of the Roberto Carlos and Erasmo Carlos song É Proibido Fumar, which was written as a challenge to the Brazilian authorities.

On the album insert, Gil had fun with a text: "Refestança is a place / Where singing happens / Where dancing happens / Where they only plant… banana trees." Rita's text rounded this idea out further: "It means a mixture of race, color, sound, farm, city, and chewing gum and banana."

The early 1980s were significant for Gilberto Gil. In the same year as he launched his album Luar (A Gente Precisa Ver O Luar), he met up again with his friends Caetano Veloso and Maria Bethânia. Only, this time, the three of them had been invited to record with the Bahian legend João Gilberto. 

The album, titled Brasil, would be released in 1981, and the cover featured just a picture of João Gilberto alongside the names of the other artists.

The song list consisted entirely of cover versions: Ary Barroso's Aquarela do Brasil (known abroad simply as Brazil); Disse Alguém by Haroldo Barbosa, Gerald Marks, and Seymour Simons; Bahia Com H by Denis Brean (real name: Augusto Duarte Ribeiro);

...No Tabuleiro da Baiana, de Ary Barroso, Milagre, de Dorival Caymmi, e Cordeiro de Nanã, de Dadinho e Mateus.

During the 1990s, Gilberto Gil did fewer collaborations with other singers in the studio, but he still performed with other artists on stage, both in his own concerts and as a guest. In 1993, he celebrated 30 years of friendship with Caetano Veloso by recording an album that also commemorated 26 years of the Tropicália movement.

Tropicália 2 was released as a CD on the PolyGram record label and the pair toured various cities in Brazil and around the world. The Tropicália 2 song list was split fairly between them: Baião Atemporal and Tradição, by Gil; 

Caetano Veloso's Rap Popcreto, Aboio and Desde Que O Samba É Samba;  Haiti, Cinema Novo and Dada by both artists; As Coisas. De Riachão, Cada Macaco no Seu Galho (Cho Chuá). De Roque Carvalho, Nossa Gente by Gil and Arnaldo Antunes; and Jimi Hendrix's Wait Until Tomorrow.

At the start of the new millennium, in 2000, Gilberto Gil and Milton Nascimento decided to turn their long-standing, mutual admiration into something concrete. 

Gilberto Gil and Milton Nascimento hailed from neighboring Brazilian states—Gil from Bahia and Milton from Minas Gerais. They first got to know each other backstage at song festivals in the 1960s, although their production teams never properly communicated. But they continued to follow each other's careers

When their album Gil & Milton was released by Warner Music in the year 2000, the pair immediately hit the road and went on to perform together at the 3rd Rock in Rio festival in early 2001, where they opened for Sting and James Taylor.

Sebastian was the main track and was also made into a music video. Others include Dorival Caymmi's Dora, Ary Barroso's Maria, The Beatles' song Something, and Fito Páez's Yo Vengo a Ofrecer Mi Corazón.

A scene from the Sebastian music video.

Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso reunited in 2015 on a world tour celebrating their 50 yeas of friendship.

Actually, they had known each other for 52 years, but the anniversary marked the date of that first concert in Bahia, half a century earlier, in 1965. Adding 50 years from one side to 50 years from the other, the celebratory tour was titled: Two Friends, A Century of Music.

The show travelled across more than ten countries and became a double CD and a DVD. The setlist includes: Coração Vagabundo, Tropicália, É de Manhã, Sampa, Terra, Nine Out of Ten, Odeio Você, Tonada de Luna Llena, by Caetano Veloso.

They paid their hommage to Bahia with Eu Vim da Bahia and É Luxo Só (João Gilberto) and Olodum's, Nossa Gente (Avisa Lá). They also sang the Italian singer Tony Dallara's Come Prima and Julio Iglesias', Tres Palabras.

Gil's song included: Marginália II, Back in Bahia, Super Homem (A Canção), Esotérico, Drão, Se Eu Quiser Falar com Deus, Expresso 2222, Toda Menina Baiana, São João, Xangô Menino, Andar com Fé and Filhos de Gandhi.