Tropicalia: Brazilian Psychedelic Rock
 

any fans? im a huge gilberto gil, caetano veloso, gal costa, tom ze, and os mutantes fan.

if you dont know what im talking about check out these records:
Various Artists - Tropicália: ou Panis et Circenses
probably the definitive album of the genre. contained all three artists on it.

Os Mutantes - Os Mutantes
the first record from "the brazilian beatles". apt moniker considering there are very very few artists who ever got close to the innovative style of music the beatles made. a truly original sound they made. their next 3 albums are sick too.

Gilberto Gil - Gilberto Gil '71
my favorite record by the guy who was sooo good he is now brazils minister of culture. an amazing singer.

Caetano Veloso - Caetano Veloso '69
now we go to "the brazilian dylan". an equally apt moniker (if you understand portuguese). but thats unnecessary to enjoy the music. he is f'in amazing as a singer/songwriter and made some of the best records ive ever heard.

if you do know who im talking about, discuss.

I don't know a huge amount about the rock scene in Brazil however I know of some great stuff that sneaks out into the great wide open such as:

Funk Como Le Gusta.
A great funk band that integrate traditional elements into their sounds.

Natiruts.

A great roots Reggae band that pay sufficient homage to Jamacia whilst retaining their own cultural identity via original language and apposite lyrics.

Yage.

An experimental electro/dance band that basically jam on a local beach. Setting up a sound system and running DAT tapes through the day creating ambience and a dance infused enviroment for the locals.

Gal Costa's Gal (1969) is one of my favorite records ever. It's absolutely brilliant.

I reckon that if Os Mutantes' debut from 68 was created in the UK or US, it would be heralded now by pretty much everyone as one of the greats.

Saying that though, I think the turbulent times in Brazil that this album was created in probably was a very good stimulous for the band, so all good.

Anyway, no doubt about it, its an unbelievable album and shocking its not more widely known in the UK. Not sure about anywhere else.


Good thread by the way

This thread needs a massive bump.

I've been listening to a lot of Tropicalia lately, there's a very wide spectrum of music that somehow got the label appropriated to it but so far it's all FANTASTIC. I just digested the Caetano Veloso album and I went through Os Mutantes and Tom Ze a few days ago, virtually every artist seems to have a wonderful hold on pace and melody. I want to get a compilation up soon, these guys are great.

Even if I can't understand a word of Portuguese, these albums are lovely.

Lula Cortes just passed away a few weeks past.

The double lp is THE most sought-after SA "tropicallia" psych artifact.

Sad. Though I've never heard the double album. Heard about it, will have to check it out.

I love Tropicalia. If you want the weird, trippy stuff, then check out Caetano Veloso Araca Azul from the start-70's. That one is just weird. Tape-experiments, jingles, weird stuff. It's not my favorite of his - that would be the follow-up, Joia - but it is definately amazing.

BBC podcast documentary about Tropicalia

The Documentary

It's such a shame English is an international lingua-franca that limits the language plasticity of its native speakers.

People afflicted in this way could always try Peru for a shot of south American weirdness, where most stuff is sung in English that I've found. I particularly like Traffic Sound's third album.

^ That's a good recommendation, Ayli - and welcome to MB :wave:

I'm checking out the clips of the band you mention,Traffic Sound, that are available on YouTube, and am enjoying Marabantu even as I write:-



My own ten cents about two other artists that have been mentioned in this thread:-

Os Mutantes have one great track with a wonderful fuzzed-up guitar riff, but most of their songs are too short, too playful or too dated for me.
Does Caetano Veloso deserve to be in the rock section at all? What little I've heard of his material all seem to be romantic ballards. The opening post calls him "the Brazilian Dylan," which would be true only if Blue Moon was typical of Dylan's repertoire, which thankfully it is not.

All that aside, if you're not too fussy about genre distinctions and possess "language plasticity" yourself, you might enjoy some of the bands here:-
http://www.musicbanter.com/country-f...und-world.html