THE MUSICAL MINISTRY OF GILBERTO GIL

BY MARA WEISS AND NEGO BETO

The Brazil Beat team connects with Gil “down-under”

We were on a mission. Brazilbeat Sound System was to perform at a three-day outdoor festival called Destination. An amazing venue in the middle of the Southern Alps, no civilization for miles around. A dream come true. Except that it was the same weekend as Gilberto Gil’s first concert ever in New Zealand. “Actually the first time in Australasia,” the New Zealand International Arts Festival’s publicist informed us. Dilemma! So we resolved that we must do both, and that all Positive Forces would help us accomplish this feat!

Friday afternoon we set up our tent as a sinister wind blew through the granite-studded canyon of Cave Stream. Thousands of hippies scrambled to set up their camps before dark. As soon as our tent was up the rain came down. Friday night we played inside a DJ-tent boiling with body heat. And outside it rained. Saturday it rained. And all day and night people danced in it. We hoped to leave Sunday morning at 7 am to catch a flight to Wellington. The dirt road leading out of the venue was closed due to safety concerns. But not to festival vehicles! Our driver Percy drove the van heroically down the slick track and over the hillocks of scrub grass. We clutched each other in terror every time we rounded a bend. But two hours later we were at the airport in Christchurch. And then we were in Wellington. We were actually going to make it to see Gilberto Gil’s show! But we had missed the press conference.

Gilberto Gil has been a figurehead of Brazilian Popular Music for the past three decades. Born in 1942 in Salvador, Bahia, the cradle of Afro-Brazilian rhythms, Gil with his onomatopoeic voice and his guitar, captured the imagination of his nation and the world.

He shaped the Tropicalia musical movement alongside Bahian friends Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa and Maria Bethânia. Their psychedically-inspired mixture of bossa-nova and the northeastern flavors of baião and afoxé, swirled together with rock and funk, defined cool in the cosmopolitan Brazil of the late ‘60s. He released the albums Ensaio Geral (1966), Gilberto Gil (1968) and with Caetano the now legendary Panis et Circensis LP (1968), better known by the name Tropicalia. And the rest is history... how he and Caetano were jailed in 1968 by the military government, who feared latent messages embedded in their lyrics. It was a perfect example of a blessing in disguise. They were soon exiled to England, where they plunged into London’s roaring music scene. From jamming with Jimi Hendrix to observing Beatlemania and discovering Bob Marley’s records, Gil’s three years in England served as a catalyst for all things musical.

A change in government brought amnesty for Gil, Caetano and many other political prisoners and exiles. Upon his return he immersed himself in recording and performing, both solo and with the Tropicalia crew. The Doces Barbaros project of 1975-76 (Gil, Caetano, Gal, Bethania) which became an album, a tour and a film, reclaimed their pop star status. In 1977, Gil traveled to Nigeria to participate in the Festival of Black Art and Culture. This trip fortified his commitment to the African roots of his own music, bearing its fruits in his next album Refavela (1977)--arguably one of the greatest records ever made. This album, together with Refazenda (1975) and Realce (1979) are considered a trio by most experts, and trace a theoretical progression of musicology from traditional Northeastern forms to African rhythms to pop music. In 1978 Gil performed at the Montreaux Jazz Festival, paving the way for international notoriety.

Live performance has always been a forte for Gil. He thrives on the interaction with the audience. It makes perfect sense to him that Quanta Live, (his 33rd career album) was the one to win a Grammy Award in 1999.

Bob Marley’s music marked deeply on Brazil, just as it did in so many countries. A genuine grass roots movement of adoration of Bob is reflected in community groups like blocos afros Ilê Ayê, Olodum, Muzenza and Malé de Balê in Salvador, the Fan Clube Bob Marley in Rio, and others.

Since his days of living on Portobello Road, Gilberto Gil never stopped listening to Bob Marley. Reggae music, and the frankness of Bob’s message touched him deeply. In 1979 he recorded a Portuguese language version of “No Woman No Cry.” The transcribed lyrics were highly politicized, describing the military dictatorship. This song was an instant success, and even today just about any Brazilian alive can sing the words to it. His most recent album Kaya N’Gan Daya was the realization of a long-held dream, to record an album of Bob Marley’s music. The idea came to fruition in 2001-2002 at Tuff Gong in Kingston, JA. With a little help from Rita Marley and the the other I-Threes, Sly & Robbie, and Wailers musicians, Gil created a tribute album that is both poignant and lighthearted, with recognizable Brazilian conventions and styles, but never losing sight of Bob.

In 2002, Luiz Ignacio “Lula” da Silva was voted President of Brazil, ushering in the first left-wing government in over four decades. He made an inspired appointment, inviting Gilberto Gil to sit at the head of the Ministry of Culture. With Gil, Lula could show he was on the side of the underprivileged people; no one commands the respect or popularity that Gil does. SInce then Gil’s routine has changed from world tours, theatres and late nights to a universe of offices, palaces, aides and documentation. He is a hands-on minister, frequently in the regions to innaugurate new projects, speak at seminars, and meet with the people.


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In Wellington, New Zealand Gilberto Gil appears onstage to thunderous applause. A slight wisp of a figure, he dominates the stage and the venue with his presence. The Queen’s Wharf Events Centre is full--half coiffed and perfumed socialites, half natty hipsters sporting Ché and Fidel t-shirts. It is the same weekend as the Cuba Street Carnival. Gil’s first performance, showcasing his repertoire of career classics, received rave reviews, the newspapers calling it “stupendous... a tour-de-force.” Tonight is Kaya N’Gan Daya--a Tribute to the Music of Bob Marley. He opens with “Lively Up Yourself,” following with samba-reggae readings on “Them Bellyfull,” Three Little Birds” and “Could You Be Loved.” Gil’s magic works its wonders on us and everybody in the room. Bob’s reggae takes on new life with the funky, percussive Brazilian arrangements, led by the huge bass of Arthur Maia. Incorporating his own reggae numbers from the past like “A Novidade” and of course “Não Chore Mais” , Gil delivers a dynamic and emotionally charged show. Closing with “Toda Menina Baiana,” he levitates every person out of their assigned seat, drawing a bouncing crowd to the front of the stage to anoint him with their bliss.

Security is tight, but soonwe are backstage. Gil is completely surrounded by eager well-wishers. We hug Arthur, Nara (his eldest daughter and newest backing singer), and the other musicians. Our 5-month-old son Jamil is instantly the second most popular person in the room, passed around from lap to lap in the Brazilian fashion.

Eventually the frenzy around Gil slows and we can approach him. He remembers us. “How does it feel to do this tour and get away from the Ministerial work?”

“It’s always great to get out and just play music again,” he says simply. He tells us that before being appointed Minister of Culture he would spend around 3-4 months out of each year touring overseas. That has gone down to a week or maybe two per year. But he still spends every Carnival in Salvador. Nothing has changed there. We ask where they are headed next. “Singapore,” he says, “and after that Hong Kong, and finally Sydney.”

The great musician is tired. The band members are rounded up, and the dressing rooms empty of fans. There will be no in-depth interview tonight. We leave the theater and hail a taxi. We are happy. Just seeing the show was enough.

The flight from Wellington back to our small town of Gisborne is at 8:25am the next morning. Encumbered with instruments and infant, we miss the flight. After a small scene at the ticketing window and a chat with the manager, we are put onto the 12:30 flight. Three and a half hours to kill. In the airport restroom changing a diaper, when a voice from behind squeals “Jamil!” It is Juju Gomes, one of Gil’s backing singers. The whole group is there, checking in for their flight to Singapore. After the baby makes the rounds again and goes to sleep, we are sitting near the group, and it is then that Gil approaches us.

In his disarming way, he starts a conversation, asking what it’s like to live here in New Zealand. He listens intently and asks questions about the environment and Maori culture within the context of society.

We ask about the ministerial work, and discover that he truly enjoys it. It is a test of putting idealism into practice. He thrives on finding the balance. “There are over 5,000 projects on the table right now,” he says, “Every type of project you can imagine.” All hoping for a stamp of approval from the Ministry of Culture, his signature and generous funding.

We try to steer the conversation toward some of the interview questions we had wanted to ask him. Beto says, “Do you remember where you and I first met?” Gil answers, “Well... I was trying to remember.”

It was in Curitiba onstage at the “Pedreira” (Quarry) when The Wailers Band performed for the first time in Brazil (1990) Gil hopped onstage for a canja (guest appearance). Beto was playing percussion, called in to replace Seku Patterson, who had fallen ill and was admitted to hospital during the tour. “Ah é... The Wailers...” Gil gets a far-off look in his eyes.

We acknowledge our respect for the Kaya N’Gan Daya project. And ask if he ever met Bob. Gil tells the story of the time he saw Bob Marley perform. “It was in LA, in 1978.” After the show was over I ran to the backstage, but he had already left. He was headed for Brazil. Imagine the irony! I never met him.”

Somehow this makes his tribute all the more special, the tangibility of a soul connection, never physically realized, but ever so real and so true.

So they get on their plane, and we get on ours, and life goes on. Gilberto Gil is an amazing human being. His 61 years have shaped him, and the wisdom of his myriad experiences are charted in his persona. But his incredible youthfulness is what stands out most. Yes, the yoga, macrobiotic diet and meditation are all part of it, but music, music is his ministry.