1942

Born in Salvador, Gilberto Gil spent his childhood in the countryside of Bahia, where he became interested in the town’s bands and in what he listened to on the radio. At age 9, he moves to Salvador with his sister to finish school, and starts taking accordion lessons. In his youth, he intensifies his music studies and, at age 18, forms the group Os Desafinados. By the end of the 50s, Joao Gilberto turns into a huge influence for Gil, who promptly starts playing guitar. While in college, he had his first contact with contemporary classical music by way of a pioneering group of composers from Bahia, which included Walter Smetak and Hans Joachim Koellreuter. In 1962, Gil records his first solo single ("Povo Petroleiro" and "Coca Coca, Lacerdinha") and meets Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethania and Gal Costa. In the following year, as Tom Ze joins the group, they present the show "Nos, Por Exemplo", in Salvador, launching the four artists’ careers. He soon moves to Sao Paulo, working at Gessy-Lever by day and touring the bars and venues at night. That’s when he meets Chico Buarque, Torquato Neto and Capinam. He starts tasting fame within a TV show called O Fino da Bossa, hosted by singer Elis Regina. That’s where he plays his compositions "Eu Vim da Bahia" and "Louvacao". As success kicks in and Phillips waves him a record deal, he quits his day-job to release his first LP, "Louvacao", in 1967.

Already living in Rio de Janeiro, Gil performs in music festivals promoted by TV stations and hosts his own TV show, Final Rehearsal. Separated from his first wife, he moves in with singer Nana Caymmi, with whom he writes "Bom Dia", and she presents the song during a TV music fest in 1967. In the same festival, he plays "Domingo no Parque", one of the most overwhelming songs in the competition, and, backed up by the Mutantes, he hits second. "Alegria, Alegria", by Caetano Veloso, hits fourth in the same fest, and will form, along with "Domingo no Parque", the embryo of the Tropicalist Movement, largely due to the presence of electric guitars in a song that was not a rock and roll song. In 1968, he releases the LP "Gilberto Gil", giving birth to Tropicalism and placing him and Caetano Veloso as the movement’s leaders. Out to cannibalize foreign cultural values, based upon writer Oswald de Andrade’s ideas, Tropicalism became solid with "Tropicalia or Panis et Ciercenses", a record arranged by maestro Rogerio Duprat, which featured Os Mutantes, Gal Costa, Tom Ze and Nara Leao, besides Gil and Caetano. In 1969 he was arrested by the military dictatorship and released the ironic "Aquele Abraco", one of his most well known songs. He then was exiled in England with Caetano. Gil came back in January 1972, for a concert where he played songs like "Oriente" and "Back in Bahia", from his following album, "Expresso 2222". Since the late 60s, Gilberto Gil has affirmed himself as one of the most creative and influential personas in Brazilian music. Always in tune with whatever new is happening in the world of music, his records have been released in many different countries, and his international career has granted him a Grammy Award for Best World Music Record, in 1998, for the album "Quanta Ao Vivo". In 1972, he revitalized the Brazilian northeastern culture with the record "Expresso 2222"; later, he reviewed the countryside malice with "Refazenda". In 1979, the album "Realce" was a turning point in his career, as he started flirting with reggae and pop music. From that period are the LPs "Luar", "Um Banda Um", "Extra", "Raca Humana", "Dia Dorim, Noite Neon" and "O Eterno Deus Mu Danca". His contemporaneity is noticeable throughout his records, like the trendsetting "MTV/Unplugged"(1994), which helped cast a whole batch of unplugged albums in Brazil. Gil has had many hits along his 35-year career, such as: "Preciso Aprender a So Ser", "Refazenda", "Expresso 2222", "Eu So Quero um Xodo" (Dominguinhos/ Anastacia), "Maracatu Atomico" (Jorge Mautner/ Nelson Jacobina), "Punk da Periferia", "Parabolicamara", "Bananeira" (with Joao Donato), "Divino Maravilhoso" (with Caetano), "Filhos de Gandhi", "Haiti" (with Caetano), "Sitio do Pica-pau Amarelo", "Soy Loco por Ti America" (with Capinam), "Realce", "Toda Menina Baiana", "Drao", "Se Eu Quiser Falar com Deus", "Estrela", among many others. In the 80s he became councilman in Salvador and is currently an activist for the Green Party.

Gilberto Gil 26/06/1942

Discography

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