Tropicália Essentials

Tropicália Essentials

Colorful, imaginative, and politically provocative, the music that emerged in late-‘60s Brazil was revolutionary in every sense of the word. Tropicália was the name of an artistic movement spearheaded by Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil and used for a 1968 compilation that galvanized the moment. Together with peers like Gal Costa and Os Mutantes, they applied the innovations of The Beatles, Frank Zappa, and psychedelia to their country’s many styles and rhythms. Along with the spirit of musical experimentation came a satirical sense of humor and an eagerness to buck convention. All of those qualities made Tropicália a threat in the eyes of Brazil’s dictatorship and led to the arrest and exile of Veloso and Gil at the end of 1968, prematurely bringing the movement to an end. Yet the effects of this creative burst can still be felt in the songs of Tropicália’s original rebels and by the generations of musicians they inspired.

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