The singer has spent decades being considered one of the leading artists of Brazilian music.
This Sunday, 26th, Gilberto Gil turns 80. Good reason to remember the career of one of the great Brazilian artists, one of the creators of the Tropicalista movement and winner of numerous international awards. He was also Minister of Culture in the Lula government between 2003 and 2008 and a councilor in the city of Salvador between 1989 and 1992.
On this anniversary, the singer made a reflection on his Instagram: “Seeing the big picture of my life, I have done everything to be who I am, to be where I am and to feel life in a way that conforms to it. This is what I always say: age conformity. I am the age I have today and a life that conforms to it. “
Born in Salvador, Bahia, in 1942, Gilberto Gil spent his childhood in the city of Ituaçu. In 1951 he returned to the capital and began studying the accordion under the influence of Luiz Gonzaga and the Baião musical genre. João Gilberto and bossa nova inspired Gil to learn to play the guitar and, for this reason, she got his mother’s first instrument.
The following year Gil begins composing his first songs on guitar and it is at this time that his first bosses begin to take shape. He also composed jingles at the JS Discos studio, making the first recording of an auteur song, Slowlyplaying the accordion with the vocal ensemble The Three Baianas. She also released her debut album him, Gilberto Gil – his music, his interpretation. At the same time, he gained prominence on television, in the program The Fino da Bossa, presented by Elis Regina, and is hired by Philips to record the first LP. With this he decided to leave his job in 1966 to devote himself to music.
The beginning of Tropicalism and the censorship of the military dictatorship
In early 1967, Gil and other MPB artists created Tropicalismo, an avant-garde movement in Brazilian popular music influenced by modernism. after the song divine, wonderfulsung by Gal, in collaboration with Caetano, reaching the third place of the 4th Brazilian Popular Music Festival, by TV Record, the song originates an experimental program of tropicalists.
However, a few days before Christmas, the program was presented for the last time by Gil and Caetano – the musicians were arrested for the provisions of the institutional law n ° 5 (AI-5), implemented by the military dictatorship [1964-1985]which precluded artistic and citizen freedom.
Accused of offending the flag and the national anthem, they were released and traveled to Salvador, where they were confined until they left the country. Gil and Caetano went into exile in London’s Chelsea neighborhood after performing a farewell show in Brazil. Also in that year some songs like That hug, one of Gil’s greatest hits. After his exile, already in Brazil, in 1973, together with other MPB figures, he performed at Midem, in Cannes, France. Due to censorship again, Gil and Chico Buarque were barred from singing at Philips’ Phono 73 event in Sao Paulo. But at the end of the year, Gil performed with Gal at the Olympia in Paris.
Music festivals and participations
The experience that Gil and Caetano had when they participated in the 2nd World Festival of Black Art and Culture, in 1977, in Lagos, Nigeria, contributed to the record that Gilberto would create upon his return to Brazil, a compact with l iconic song Site of the yellow woodpeckeropening of the children’s program e the Seagull. In collaboration with the A Cor do Som group, Gil is again present abroad in 1978, when he performs at the Montreux International Jazz Festival, in Switzerland. In 1991 he performed with Tom Jobim, Caetano, Sting and Elton John at Carnegie Hall in New York, on a mission to raise funds for the Mata Virgem Foundation. In 1993 he is in Montreux, at the 27th edition of the International Jazz Festival, with the show Gilberto Gil and friends. Gil was responsible for opening the Stevie Wonder show in 1995 in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo as part of the Free Jazz Festival. Marking the presence of him in other editions of Rock in Rio, in 2004, Gil participated in the Lisbon edition. In 2005 he attended the charity ball in Monte Carlo, Monaco, organized by Princess Caroline, and later composed an anthem in French for the Dakar festival, La Renaissance Africaine.
Awards and nominations
In 2005 he won the Multishow Award for Brazilian music, for let’s run away (Gilberto Gil / Liminha), with Skank. The following year he received from the hands of King Carl Gustaf 16 the Polar Music Prize, awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, for his contributions to art. He won the Grammy for Best World Music Album for electroacoustic in 2006. The record Bright Gil gave Gil a 50th Grammy nomination in 2007, again vying for best album in the World Music category. In 2010 it was contemplated by two Latin Grammys, in the categories of the best Brazilian popular music album. bandits and best album Native Brazilian roots. He won the Latin Grammy in the Best Brazilian Popular Music Album category, in 2012, with the Special Ivete, Gil and Caetano. Finally, in 2019, he won the Chamber Prize, from Denmark, with the album ok ok ok.
Source: Terra
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