Gilberto Gil | |
|---|---|
 Gil in 2025 | |
| Born | Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (1942-06-26)26 June 1942 (age 83) |
| Education | Federal University of Bahia (BBA) |
| Occupations |
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| Political party | |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 8 (includingPreta) |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1959–present |
| Labels | |
Musical artist | |
| Website | gilbertogil |
Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (Portuguese:[ʒiwˈbɛʁtuˈʒiw]; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil'sMinister of Culture in the administration of PresidentLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Gil's musical style incorporates an eclectic range of influences, including rock,Brazilian genres includingsamba,African music, andreggae.
Gil started to play music as a child and was a teenager when he joined his first band. He began his career as abossa nova musician and began to write songs that reflected a focus on political awareness and social activism. He was a key figure in themúsica popular brasileira andtropicália movements of the 1960s, alongside artists such as longtime collaboratorCaetano Veloso. TheBrazilian military regime thattook power in 1964 saw both Gil and Veloso as a threat, and the two were held for nine months in 1969 before they were told to leave the country. Gil moved toLondon, but returned toBahia in 1972 and continued his musical career, while also working as a politician and environmental advocate. His albumQuanta Live wonBest World Album at the41st Annual Grammy Awards, and the album Eletracústico won theBest Contemporary World Music Album at the48th Annual Grammy Awards.
Gil was born inSalvador and spent much of his childhood inItuaçu. Ituaçu was a small town of fewer than a thousand people, located in thesertão, or countryside, of Bahia.[1] His father, José Gil Moreira, was a doctor; his mother, Claudina Passos Gil Moreira, an elementary school teacher.[1][2] As a young boy, he attended aMarist Brothers school.[3] Gil remained in Ituaçu until he was nine years old, returning to Salvador for secondary school.
Gil's interest in music was precocious: "When I was only two or two and a half", he recalled, "I told my mother I was going to become a musician or president of my country".[4] He grew up listening to theforró music of his native northeast,[2] and took an interest in the street performers of Salvador.[5] Early on, he began to play the drums and the trumpet, through listening to Bob Nelson on the radio.[6] Gil's mother was the "chief supporter" in his musical ambitions; she bought him anaccordion and, when he was ten years old, sent him to music school in Salvador which he attended for four years.[1][4] As an accordionist, Gil first played classical music, but grew more interested in the folk and popular music of Brazil.[1] He was particularly influenced by singer and accordion playerLuiz Gonzaga; he began to sing and play the accordion in an emulation of Gonzaga's recordings.[7] Gil has noted that he grew to identify with Gonzaga "because he sang about the world around [him], the world that [he] encountered".[8]
During his years in Salvador, Gil encountered the music of songwriterDorival Caymmi, who he says represented to him the "beach-oriented" samba music of Salvador.[8] Gonzaga and Caymmi were Gil's formative influences.[1] While in Salvador, Gil was introduced to many other styles of music, including Americanbig band jazz andtango.[8] In 1950 Gil moved back to Salvador with his family. It was there, while in high school, that he joined his first band, Os Desafinados ("The Out of Tunes"), in which he played accordion and vibraphone and sang.[1] Os Desafinados was influenced by American rock and roll musicians like Elvis Presley, as well as singing groups from Rio de Janeiro.[1] The band was active for two to three years. Soon afterwards, inspired by Brazilian musicianJoão Gilberto, he settled on the guitar as his primary instrument and began to play bossa nova.[5]
Gil met guitarist and singerCaetano Veloso at theUniversidade Federal da Bahia (Federal University of Bahia) in 1963. The two began collaborating and performing together, releasing a single and EP.[2] Along withMaria Bethânia (Veloso's sister),Gal Costa, andTom Zé, Gil and Veloso performed bossa nova and traditional Brazilian songs at the Vila Velha Theatre's opening night in July 1964, a show entitledNós, por Exemplo ("Us, for Example").[6] Gil and the group continued to perform at the venue and he eventually became a musical director of the concert series.[9] Gil collaborated again with members of this collective on the landmark 1968 albumTropicália: ou Panis et Circenses, whose style was influenced by The Beatles'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, an album Gil listened to constantly.[10] Gil describesTropicália: ou Panis et Circenses as the birth of the tropicália movement.[1] As Gil describes it, tropicália, or tropicalismo, was a conflation of musical and cultural developments that had occurred in Brazil during the 1950s and 1960s—primarilybossa nova and theJovem Guarda ("Young Wave") collective—withrock and roll music from the United States and Europe, a movement deemed threatening by the Brazilian government of the time.[11]
Early on in the 1960s, Gil earned income primarily from selling bananas in a shopping mall and composingjingles for television advertisements;[5] he was also briefly employed by the Brazilian division ofUnilever, Gessy-Lever.[6] He moved toSão Paulo in 1965 and had ahit single when his song "Louvação" (which later appeared on thealbum of the same name) was released byElis Regina. His first hit as a solo artist was the 1969 song "Aquele Abraço".[5] Gil also performed on several television programs throughout the 1960s, which often included other "tropicalistas", members of the Tropicalismo movement.[6]
In October 1968, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso performed at Sucata club in Rio de Janeiro, withHélio Oiticica's poem-flagSeja marginal, seja herói displayed on stage.[12][13] The journalistRandal Juliano [pt] ofRecordTV propagated a story that Caetano and Gil had sung theBrazilian National Anthem in subversive parody.[14] The two musicians were arrested without trial 27 December 1968—shortly after the military state had passed on 13 DecemberInstitutional Act Number Five, which suspendedhabeas corpus.[14]
In February 1969 Gil and Veloso were arrested by theBrazilian military government, brought from São Paulo toRio de Janeiro, and spent three months in prison and another four under house arrest,[1][11] before being freed on the condition that they leave the country. Veloso was the first to be arrested; the police moved to Gil's home soon afterward. Veloso had directed his then-wife Andréa Gadelha to warn Gil about the possibility of arrest, but Gil was eventually brought into the police van along with Veloso.[15] They were given no reason or charge for their arrest.[1] Gil believes that the government felt his actions "represent[ed] a threat [to them], something new, something that can't quite be understood, something that doesn't fit into any of the clear compartments of existing cultural practices, and that won't do. That is dangerous."[16] During his prison sentence, Gil began tomeditate, follow amacrobiotic diet, and read aboutEastern philosophy.[2] He composed four songs during his imprisonment, among them "Cérebro Electrônico" ("Electronic Brain"), which first appeared on his 1969 albumGilberto Gil 1969, and later on his 2006 albumGil Luminoso.[17] Thereafter, Gil and Veloso were exiled to London, England after being offered to leave Brazil.[18] The two played a last Brazilian concert together in Salvador in July 1969, and travelled to Portugal, Paris, and London.[1] He and Veloso took a house inChelsea, with their wives and manager.[19] Gil was involved in the organisation of the 1971GlastonburyFree Festival[19] and was exposed to reggae while living in London; he recalls listening toBob Marley (whose songs he later covered),Jimmy Cliff, andBurning Spear.[1] He was heavily influenced by and involved with the city's rock scene as well, performing withYes,Pink Floyd, and theIncredible String Band.[1][5] However, he also performed solo, recordingGilberto Gil (Nêga) while in London. In addition to involvement in the reggae and rock scenes, Gil attended performances by jazz artists, includingMiles Davis andSun Ra.[1]
When he went back to Bahia in 1972, Gil focused on his musical career and environmental advocacy work.[20] He releasedExpresso 2222 the same year, from which two popular singles were released. Gil toured the United States and recorded an English-language album as well, continuing to release a steady stream of albums throughout the 1970s, includingRealce andRefazenda. In the early 1970s Gil participated in a resurgence of theAfro-Brazilianafoxé tradition inCarnaval, joining the Filhos de Gandhi ("Sons of Gandhi") performance group,[21] which only allowed black Brazilians to join.[22] Gil also recorded a song titled "Patuscada de Gandhi" written about the Filhos de Gandhi that appeared on his 1977 albumRefavela. Greater attention was paid to afoxé groups in Carnaval because of the publicity that Gil had provided to them through his involvement; the groups increased in size as well.[23] In the late 1970s he left Brazil for Africa and visitedSenegal,Ivory Coast, andNigeria. He also worked withJimmy Cliff and released acover of "No Woman, No Cry" with him in 1980, a number one hit that introducedreggae to Brazil.[5]
In 1996, Gil contributed "Refazenda" to the AIDS-Benefit AlbumRed Hot + Rio produced by theRed Hot Organization.
In 1998 the live version of his albumQuanta won Gil theGrammy Award for Best World Music Album. In 2005 he won theGrammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album forEletracústico. In May 2005 he was awarded thePolar Music Prize byCarl XVI Gustaf of Sweden in Stockholm,[24] the prize's first Latin American recipient. On 16 October of the same year he received theLégion d'honneur from the government ofFrance, coinciding with the Année du Brésil en France ("Brazil's Year in France").[25]
In 2010 he released the albumFé Na Festa, a record devoted toforró, a style of music from Brazil's northeast. His tour to promote this album received some negative feedback from fans who were expecting to hear a set featuring his hits.[26] In 2013, Gilberto Gil plays his own role as a singer and promoter of cultural diversity in a long feature documentary shot around the southern hemisphere by Swiss filmmakerPierre-Yves Borgeaud,Viramundo: a musical journey with Gilberto Gil, distributed worldwide. The film also inaugurates the T.I.D.E. experiment for pan-European and multi-support releases.[27]
His albumOK OK OK was ranked as the 4th best Brazilian album of 2018 by the Brazilian edition ofRolling Stone magazine[28] and among the 25 best Brazilian albums of the second half of 2018 by theSão Paulo Association of Art Critics.[29]
Gilberto Gil | |
|---|---|
 Gil in 2007 | |
| Minister of Culture | |
| In office 1 January 2003 – 30 July 2008 | |
| President | Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva |
| Preceded by | Francisco Weffort |
| Succeeded by | Juca Ferreira |
| Councillor ofSalvador | |
| In office 1 January 1989 – 1 January 1993 | |
| Constituency | At-large |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | PV (1990–present) |
| Other political affiliations | PMDB (1988–90) |
| Signature |  |
Gil describes his attitude towards politics thus: "I'd rather see my position in the government as that of an administrator or manager. But politics is a necessary ingredient."[30] His political career began in 1987, when he was elected to a local post in Bahia and became the Salvador secretary of culture.[31] In 1988, he was elected to the city council and subsequently became city commissioner for environmental protection. However, he left the office after one term and declined to run for theNational Congress of Brazil.[30] In 1990, Gil left theBrazilian Democratic Movement Party and joined theGreen Party.[32] During this period, Gil founded the environmental protection organization Onda Azul ("Blue Wave"), which worked to protect Brazilian waters.[20] He maintained a full-time musical career at the same time, and withdrew temporarily from politics in 1992, following the releaseParabolicamará, considered to be one of his most successful efforts.[2] On 16 October 2001 Gil accepted his nomination to be aGoodwill Ambassador for theFood and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, having promoted the organization before his appointment.[33]
When PresidentLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in January 2003, he chose Gil as Brazil's new Minister of Culture, the second black person to serve inthe country's cabinet. The appointment was controversial among political and artistic figures and the Brazilian press; a remark Gil made about difficulties with his salary received particular criticism.[34] Gil had not been a member of Lula'sWorkers' Party and had not participated in creating its cultural program.[34] Shortly after becoming Minister, Gil began a partnership between Brazil andCreative Commons.[35] In 2003, he gave a concert in the UN General Assembly in honour of the victims of thebombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad.[36] In that concert, he played together with Secretary GeneralKofi Annan.[37][38]
As Minister, he sponsored a program called Culture Points, which gavegrants to provide music technology and education to people living in poor areas of the country's cities.[39] Gil 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."[40] Gil also expressed interest in a program to establish an Internet repository of freelydownloadable Brazilian music.[16] Following Gil's appointment, the department's expenditures increased by over 50 percent.[41] In November 2007 Gil announced his intention to resign from his post due to avocal cord polyp.[42] Lula rejected Gil's first two attempts to resign, but accepted a further request in July 2008. Lula said on this occasion that Gil was "going back to being a great artist, going back to giving priority to what is most important" to him.[43]
Gil has been married four times. He had two daughters Nara and Marilia, with first wife Belina Aguiar. He was then married to famous singerNana Caymmi, they had no children. His third wife was Sandra Gadelha with whom he had three children: Pedro, Preta and Maria. Sandra inspired one of his most beloved songs Drão, she was with him during the very hard times of Brazilian dictatorship and they both were exiled. His fourth wife is Flora Giordano. The couple has three children: Bem, Isabella and Jose. His first son Pedro Gil,Egotrip's drummer – died in a car accident in 1990.[44]Preta Gil, an actress and singer, is his daughter with Sandra Gadelha.
Gil's religious beliefs have changed significantly over his lifetime. Originally, he was a Christian, but was later influenced byEastern philosophy and religion, and, later, explored African spirituality. He is an agnostic.[44] He practices yoga and is a vegetarian.[11]
Gil has been open about the fact that he has smokedmarijuana for much of his life. He has said he believes "that drugs should be treated like pharmaceuticals, legalized, although under the same regulations and monitoring as medicines".[45]
In 2023, Gil revealed that he had also been in relationships with men, stating "We are allbisexual".[46][47]
Gil is atenor, but he sings in thebaritone orfalsetto register, with lyrics and/or scat syllables. His lyrics are on subjects that range from philosophy to religion, folktales, andword play.[48] Gil's musical style incorporates a broad range of influences. The first music he was exposed to included The Beatles and street performers in various metropolitan areas of Bahia. During his first years as a musician, Gil performed primarily in a blend of traditional Brazilian styles withtwo-step rhythms, such asbaião andsamba.[4] He states that "My first phase was one of traditional forms. Nothing experimental at all. Caetano [Veloso] and I followed in the tradition ofLuiz Gonzaga andJackson do Pandeiro, combining samba with northeastern music."[4] American music criticRobert Christgau said that along withJorge Ben, Gil was "always ready to go further out on a beat than the other samba/bossa geniuses".[49]
As one of the pioneers of tropicália, influences from genres such as rock andpunk have been pervasive in his recordings, as they have been in those of other stars of the period, including Caetano Veloso and Tom Zé. Gil's interest in theblues-based music of rock pioneerJimi Hendrix, in particular, has been described by Veloso as having "extremely important consequences for Brazilian music".[50] Veloso also noted the influence of Brazilian guitarist and singerJorge Ben on Gil's musical style, coupled with that of traditional music.[50] After the height of tropicália in the 1960s, Gil became increasingly interested in black culture, particularly in the Jamaican musical genre ofreggae. He described the genre as "a form of democratizing, internationalizing, speaking a new language, aHeideggerian form of passing along fundamental messages".[51]
VisitingLagos, Nigeria, in 1976 for the Festival of African Culture (FESTAC), Gil met fellow musiciansFela Kuti andStevie Wonder.[1] He became inspired by African music and later integrated some of the styles he had heard in Africa, such asjuju andhighlife, into his own recordings.[52] One of the most famous of these African-influenced records was the 1977 albumRefavela, which included "No Norte da Saudade" (To the North of Sadness), a song heavily influenced by reggae.[53] When Gil returned to Brazil after the visit, he focused on Afro-Brazilian culture, becoming a member of the Carnaval afoxé group Filhos de Gandhi.
Conversely, his 1980s musical repertoire presented an increased development of dance trends, such asdisco andsoul, as well as the previous incorporation of rock and punk.[51] However, Gil says that his 1994 albumAcoustic was not such a new direction, as he had previously performed unplugged with Caetano Veloso. He describes the method of playing as easier than other types of performance, as the energy of acoustic playing is simple and influenced by its roots.[54] Gil has been criticized for a conflicting involvement in both authentic Brazilian music and the worldwide musical arena. He has had to walk a fine line, simultaneously remaining true to traditional Bahian styles and engaging with commercial markets. Listeners in Bahia have been much more accepting of his blend of music styles, while those in southeast Brazil felt at odds with it.[51]
| Year | Work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | N/A | Anchieta Medal—São Paulo City Council[55] | Won |
| 1986 | N/A | The Gold Dolphin—Government of the State of Rio de Janeiro[55] | Won |
| 1990 | N/A | Ordre des Arts et des Lettres—Ministry of Culture of France[56] | Won |
| 1990 | N/A | Commendator of theOrder of Rio Branco[56] | Won |
| 1997 | N/A | Ordre national du Mérite | Won |
| 1999 | Quanta Live | Grammy Award—Best World Music Album[57] | Won |
| 1999 | N/A | Order of Cultural Merit—Ministry of Culture[56] | Won |
| 1999 | N/A | UNESCO Artist for Peace—United Nations[58] | Won |
| 2001 | Eu Tu Eles | Cinema Brazil Grand Prize—Best Music | Nominated |
| 2001 | As Canções De Eu, Tu, Eles | Latin Grammy Award—Brazilian Roots/Regional Album[59] | Won |
| 2001 | N/A | Goodwill Ambassador—Food and Agriculture Organization[60] | Won |
| 2002 | Viva São João! | Passista Trophy—Long Documentary – Best Score | Won |
| 2002 | São João Vivo | Latin Grammy Award—Best Brazilian Roots/Regional Album[59] | Won |
| 2003 | N/A | Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year[61] | Won |
| 2005 | Eletracústico | Grammy Award—Best Contemporary World Music Album[57] | Won |
| 2005 | N/A | Polar Music Prize[62] | Won |
| 2005 | N/A | Légion d'honneur[63] | Won |
| 2016 | Gilbertos Samba Ao Vivo | Grammy Award for Best World Music Album[57] | Nominated |
| 2019 | Ok Ok Ok | Latin Grammy Award for Best MPB Album | Won[64] |
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