Gilberto Gil

Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Gil, the Brazilian Minister of Culture
Born	Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (1942-06-26) June 26, 1942 Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Nationality	Brazilian
Education	Universidade Federal da Bahia
Occupation(s)	Musician, Brazilian Minister of Culture
Employer	Government of Brazil
Known for	Influential musician in the Tropicalismo movement
Title	Minister
Political party	Partido Verde
Spouse(s)	Flora (1980–present) Sandra Gadelha (1969–1980) Nana Caymmi (1967–1980) Belina (1965–1967)
Children	7
Parent(s)	José and Claudina Passos Gil Moreira
Website	http://www.gilbertogil.com.br/

For other uses, see Gil.

Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (born June 26, 1942 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil), better known as Gilberto Gil, is a Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist, songwriter, and the current Brazilian Minister of Culture. Gil has held the post of Minister since 2003, although he has declared his intention to resign in 2008 due to a vocal cord polyp. He began his performance career as a bossa nova musician, but soon began writing songs that reflected a new focus on political awareness and social activism, becoming part of the Música Popular Brasileira movement with artists including Caetano Veloso, a longtime collaborator.

Born in Salvador, he began playing music early in life and joined his first band as a teenager in the 1950s. After meeting Caetano Veloso in 1963 Gil began performing and touring regularly, but earned his living at the time primarily through non-musical pursuits. He joined Veloso regularly in performances and recordings and became a major figure in the 1960s Tropicalismo movement with him. However Gil was eventually imprisoned by the Brazilian military government of the time, along with Veloso. The two moved to London, England in the late 1960s after being instructed to leave the country of Brazil.

Gil eventually returned to Bahia in 1972 and continued his musical career, as well as working as an advocate for environmental issues. In the following years, Gil made over 20 recordings and toured constantly. During the late 1980s he ran for public office in Salvador and Bahia at large, becoming mayor of his home city, but left office to further his career in music. Gil returned to politics in 2003, however, when he was appointed Minister of Culture by the newly elected President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Biography

Early years (1942–1969)

Gil was born in Salvador, a city in the northeast of Brazil, to a middle class family. His mother, Claudina Passos Gil Moreira, was a teacher and his father, José Gil Moreira, a doctor. Though he was born in Salvador, Gil spent much of his childhood in Ituaçu, relatively near to it. As a child and young adult, he was influenced by the northeast Brazilian musical style of forró, but also listened to popular artists like The Beatles on the radio and local street performers in Salvador. He learned how to play several musical instruments: drums at three, trumpet at seven, and vibraphone and accordion as a teenager. Gil moved back to Salvador with his family in his teenage years. He joined his first band in Salvador, Os Desafinados (English: The Out of Tunes), and settled on guitar as a primary instrument, as it was the one that Brazilian star João Gilberto played.

Gil met guitarist and singer Caetano Veloso at the Universidade Federal da Bahia (English: Federal University of Bahia) in 1963, with whom he immediately began collaborating and performing. The two, along with Veloso's sister Maria Bethânia, Gal Costa, and Tom Zé, performed bossa nova and traditional Brazilian songs at the Vihla Vehla Theatre's opening night in July 1964. Throughout the early 1960s, however, Gil earned income primarily from composing jingles for television advertisements, though he was briefly employed by the Brazilian division of Unilever, Gessy-Lever. He moved to São Paulo in 1965 and had a hit single when his song "Louvação" (which later appeared on the album of the same name) was released by Elis Regina. In the late 1960s he appeared in performance with and on recordings by the São Paulo psychedelic rock group Os Mutantes.

In February 1969 Gil and Veloso were arrested by the military government of Brazil without reason and spent several months in prison, before being freed if they left Brazil. During his prison sentence, Gil began to meditate, follow a macrobiotic diet, and read about the philosophy in Asia. Thereafter, Gil and Veloso exiled themselves to London, England. While staying in London, Gil performed with groups like Yes, Pink Floyd and the Incredible String Band.

Peak musical career (1970–1990)

Gilberto Gil performing in 2007

When he came back to Bahia in 1972, Gil focused on his musical career and environmental advocacy work. That same year, he released Expresso 2222, which spawned two hit singles. In the 1970s, he toured the United States and recorded an English-language album. He worked with Jimmy Cliff and released a cover of "No Woman, No Cry" in 1980, a number one hit which introduced reggae to Brazil. He continued to release a steady stream of albums throughout the 1970s, including Realce and Refazenda.

While living in London, Gil had become interested in reggae and other aspects of black culture. He described reggae as "a form of democratizing, internationalizing, speaking a new language, a Heideggerian form of passing along fundamental messages." In the late 1970s, Gil left Brazil for Africa, and visited Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, and Nigeria. When he visited a culture festival in Nigeria in 1977, he met fellow musicians Fela Kuti, King Sunny Adé, and the American Stevie Wonder. He became inspired by African music, and later integrated some of the styles he had heard in Africa into his own recordings.

Gil drew heavily into his Afro-Brazilian roots in Bahia by blending international popular music—rock and funk—with Brazilian urban music. Because of his newfound interest and involvement with black culture, he began to combine his Afro-Bahian roots with a combination of Caribbean and African-American musical forms. His 1980s musical repertoire presented an increased development of dance trends, such as disco, reggae, soul, rock, and punk. Still, Gil has been criticized for a conflicting involvement in both authentic Brazilian music and the worldwide moneymaking arena. He has had to walk a fine line, simultaneously remaining true to traditional Bahian styles, and engaging with commercial markets. Listeners in Bahia were much more accepting of his blending of music styles, while those in southeast Brazil felt at odds with it.

Gil won the 1998 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for Quanta Live and the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album for Eletracústico. In May 2005 Gil was awarded the Polar Music Prize by Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden in Stockholm, along with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. He was the award's first Latin American recipient. On October 16, 2005 he was awarded the Légion d'honneur from the French government, coinciding with the Année du Brésil en France (English: Brazil's Year in France).

Political career (1987–present)

Gilberto Gil at a presentation in São Paulo, Brazil

Gil began his political career in 1987, when he was elected to a local post in Bahia and became the Salvador secretary of culture. After retiring from this position he ran for mayor in 1988, as a member of the Partido Verde (English: Green Party), won by an overwhelming landslide, and also became the city's minster for environmental protection. In addition, Gil founded the environmental protection organization Onda Azul, (English: Blue Wave) which worked to protect the Brazilian coast against pollution. He maintained a full-time musical career in this period as well. He temporarily retired from politics in 1992, having recently released Parabolicamara, considered to be one of his most successful efforts.

When President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in January 2003, he chose Gil to serve as Brazil's new Minister of Culture, the second black person to serve in the Cabinet of Brazil. Shortly after becoming Minister Gil began a partnership between the country of Brazil and Creative Commons. He also sponsored a program called Culture Points, which uses grants from the Brazilian government to provide music technology and education to people living in poor areas of the country's cities. Gil has since asserted that "you've now got young people who are becoming designers, who are making it into media and being used more and more by television and samba schools and revitalizing degraded neighborhoods. It's a different vision of the role of government, a new role." Gil has also expressed interest in a program that will establish an Internet repository of freely downloadable Brazilian music.

Discography

• 1967 Louvação
• 1968 Gilberto Gil (Frevo Rasgado)
• 1969 Gilberto Gil (Cérebro Eletrônico)
• 1971 Gilberto Gil (Nega)
• 1972 Barra 69: Caetano E Gil Ao Vivo Na Bahia
• 1972 Expresso 2222
• 1974 Gilberto Gil Ao Vivo
• 1975 Refazenda
• 1977 Refavela
• 1978 Gilberto Gil Ao Vivo Em Montreux
• 1978 Refestança
• 1979 Nightingale
• 1979 Realce
• 1981 Brasil
• 1981 Luar (A Gente Precisa Ver o Luar)
• 1981 Um Banda Um
• 1983 Extra
• 1984 Quilombo (Trilha Sonora)
• 1984 Raça Humana
• 1985 Dia Dorim Noite Neon
• 1987 Gilberto Gil Em Concerto
• 1987 Soy Loco Por Ti America
• 1987 Trem Para As Estrelas (Trilha Sonora)
• 1988 Ao Vivo Em Tóquio (Live in Tokyo)
• 1989 O Eterno Deus Mu Dança

• 1991 Parabolic
• 1994 Acoustic
• 1995 Esoterico: Live in USA 1994
• 1995 Oriente: Live in Tokyo
• 1996 Em Concerto
• 1996 Luar
• 1997 Indigo Blue
• 1997 Quanta
• 1998 Ao Vivo Em Tóquio (Live in Tokyo)
• 1998 Copacabana Mon Amour
• 1998 O Sol de Oslo
• 1998 O Viramundo (Ao Vivo)
• 1998 Quanta Live
• 2000 Me, You, Them
• 2001 Milton and Gil
• 2001 São João Vivo
• 2002 Kaya N'Gan Daya
• 2002 Z: 300 Anos de Zumbi
• 2004 Eletrácustico
• 2005 Ao Vivo
• 2005 As Canções de Eu Tu Eles
• 2005 Soul of Brazil
• 2006 Gil Luminoso
• 2006 Rhythms of Bahia

External links

• Official site
• Transcript of a Gil speech