Tropicália:Soul Jazz

Artist: Various Artists

Date Released:

Label: Soul Jazz

Produced By:

Tracklisting:
 * 1) Gilberto Gil - Bat Macumba
 * 2) Os Mutantes - A Minha Menina
 * 3) Gal Costa - Tuareg
 * 4) Gilberto Gil & Os Mutantes - Domingo No Parque
 * 5) Caetano Veloso -Alfômega
 * 6) Gal Costa - Sebastiana
 * 7) Gilberto Gil - Procissão
 * 8) Caetano Veloso - Irene
 * 9) Os Mutantes - Ave Genghis Khan
 * 10) Jorge Ben - Take It Easy, My Brother Charles
 * 11) Tom Zé - Jimmy, Renda-se
 * 12) Os Mutantes - Ando Meio Desligado
 * 13) Caetano Veloso - Tropicália
 * 14) Tom Zé - Quero Sambal Meu Bem
 * 15) Gal Costa -Vou Recomeçar
 * 16) Os Mutantes - Panis Et Circenses
 * 17) Tom Zé - Gloria
 * 18) Os Mutantes - Quem Tem Medo De Brincar De Amor
 * 19) Caetano Veloso -Lost in the Paradise
 * 20) Os Mutantes - Bat Macumba

Review: The Tropicália movement of 1968 brought on a cultural revolution in a Brazil torn between a military dictatorship and a militant left-wing collection of high-class artists and intellectuals. The problem was that neither group was considering anyone but themselves, and to put it incredibly simple, most of Brazil was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Tropicália’s two main protagonists, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, as well as a slew of other similar-minded musicians, writers, poets, filmmakers and artists were left to bring attention to this paradox by any means possible. How do you simultaneously celebrate your Brazilian roots while also exposing yourself to international culture, how do you embrace progressive American and British artists without supporting their accompanying imperialism, how do you love both pop and the avant-garde anti-music, how can you idolize João Gilberto while dismissing the Bossa Nova genre he created? The Tropicálistas consciously ‘cannibalised’ (internalized) everything, and the result was a new style of innately anarchist music combining psychedelic rock and pop, avant-garde musique concrete and Brazilian roots music like samba and Bossa Nova. Strung with mostly metaphorical anti-populist and anti-nationalist lyrics and an increasingly raucous live show, they were eventually banned with the introduction of the A1-5 act which censored all press and culture. Veloso and Gil were imprisoned with no charges and later exiled a little more than a year after the movement began and just like that Tropicália ended. Today their influence is still deeply felt in a now democratic Brazilian society and heard everywhere in popular music from Tortoise to Stereolab to Beck. Thanks to the always incredible Soul Jazz, their music continues to inspire fresh ears and eager minds spreading their influence almost 40 years after the fact. Mpardaiolo