How many musical movements can be credited for influencing every genre in the musical spectrum from twitchy new wave to mainstream hip-hop? At least one.
A cultural movement that encompassed film, theater, poetry and art in addition to music, Tropicália has been cited as an influence by a wide array of musical artists, from the Talking Heads’ David Byrne to pop princess Nelly Furtado.
Interestingly, Tropicália itself was essentially just the sum of its influences. Emerging in Brazil in the late 1960s, the movement married the sounds of British psychedelic rock with the traditional folk of the Bahía region. It also eventually incorporated African music, experimental German rock known as krautrock and Indian music. In short, Tropicália can be best characterized as cannibalistic.
Tropicália formed in a time when Brazil was dominated by a brutal military dictatorship that censored the arts and silenced the media. Fittingly, the movement took on a highly political dimension, and its artists often articulated their disgust for the government through complex metaphors. Tropicália essentially ended in 1968, the same year it began, when its two main proponents, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, were imprisoned by the government for spreading their radical messages.
Despite the seemingly short-lived history of Tropicália, its legacy lives on; in fact, the music world has recently displayed a renewed interest in the genre. One of the movement’s most important bands, Os Mutantes, played their first show since 1978 earlier this year in London.
Tom Zé has been riding a wave of critical praise ever since the release of this year’s Estudando O Pagode: Na Opereta Segregamulher E Amor, a Portuguese rock opera about love (read: sex).
This spring Soul Jazz Records released Tropicália: A Brazilian Revolution in Sound, a compilation that showcases the highlights of Tropicália’s original artists: Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Os Mutantes, Gal Costa, Tom Zé and Jorge Ben. In addition, the compilation comes with a forty page booklet documenting the history of Tropicália. With such a convenient entry point available to newcomers, there’s really no excuse for not exploring one of the more interesting cultural movements of the last fifty years.
