Tropicália

I started feeling interest for Brazilian music after I had the chance to visit Brazil several times, and I fell in love with the places, the people, the culture...
Tropicalia is the name of a cultural movement that renewed the brazilian musical scene in the late sixties. Artists like Caetano Veloso and Gilbert Gil were born in the state of Bahia, in north-eastern Brazil, the historical heart of the country, home of the afro-brazilian culture. They started playing bossanova, being devoted fans of masters like Antonio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto, but soon they felt the urge to bring into their musical traditions the new sounds and topics of international rock music. It was a period of great cultural and social changes and Brazil was passing trough a militar dictatorship. Gil and Veloso were considered dangerous and anarchical provokers, and they paid for it with prison and two years of exile in Europe. Right now their are considered ambassadors of Brazilian music in the world, always hovering between tradition and innovation. Veloso is still incredibly creative and Gil is the actual minister of culture.
Os Mutantes, a trio of rockers from São Paulo, represented the most psychedelic side of tropicalia, their first three albums are real masterpieces of eccentric pop, crossing many different musical styles with the support of the genial arrangements by their producer Rogerio Duprat, a musician with classical background.
I think the first video is from a festival at the Paramount Theatre in Rio de Janeiro. You can feel the tension in the social clime of those years, the most conservative part of the audience was protesting because of the hippy clothes and electric guitars used by Os Mutantes. At the same time we can see a musician playing the berimbau, typical instrument of north-eastern Brazil's folklore. Anyway Gil is able to front the situation with his charismatic presence on stage.
The Os Mutantes' clip is part of a concert performed for television in '69. This fine song was also the title of a collective compilation of tropicalia artists. You can see one of them on the clip, Tom Zé, another innovative and talented songwriter, appears among the audience, with the acoustic guitar in his hands.

Gilberto Gil And Os Mutantes - Domingo No Parque (1967)
Os Mutantes - Panis Et Circenses (1969)

I have two more clips from the Os Mutantes' concert, I hope you'll like to see them.

The password to unzip all files is: musicforyoureyes

See you

Mirco