Gilberto Gil is going to be Minister of Culture in the new Brazilian government

Love Brazil's new PM though.

I have a Gil CD which is absolutely beautiful, full props to the guy as a musician ... but it's SCARY how his generation : Gil, Caetano Veloso etc. are venerated in Brazil. And what a hold they seem to have on EVERYTHING musical in the country ... from new music, to reviving folkloric traditions, to guest slots at the carnival, to choosing the music played on the national airline.

My wife suggests that it's the equivalent of Blair appointing Sting as culture minister.

...and before i evaporate, hopelessly, amidst my personal pipedreams of tropical polito-pop
(hell' i've never even been to South America, a shame)
-- PLEASE! WILL BRAZILIANS NOW STEP FORWARD AND TAKE OVER THIS THREAD!

That's fucking so wrong I don't know where to start.

in the US I think the equivalent would be "token political post". It's just a political olive branch that means nothing.

Just because our NEA and NEH are relatively worthless does not mean this is true. I have no idea what it's like in Brazil (and neither do you), but most countries' governments support/subsidize the arts to a degree that would be unimaginable in the U.S. To compare the U.S. government's minimal support of the arts to any other government's is ludicrous.

Matt C, i don't have "all the hate" for yr man Gil!
i have lotsa love for our man Gil, and i don't think there's sth "wrong" with his politics,
it's just that i have even more love for my man Milton -- AND: if i were to choose a Brazilian star musician under whose authority to live, i'd vote for M...
(or perhaps Ze; and if M ans Z were both unavailable, i'd certainly go for G - that's about it, in theory)

Tropicalia Legend Tom Ze Suffers Heart Attack Tom Ze, one of the founding fathers of Brazil's tropicalia movement, suffered a heart attack following a Sunday night concert in a northeastern city, hospital officials said. The 65-year-old musician complained of chest pains after performing at the Abril Pro Rock music festival in Recife, 1,200 miles northeast of Rio de Janeiro. Ze had an angioplasty to unblock one of his heart arteries and is to remain in the intensive care unit for the next two days for observation, according to a statement issued by the Unicords Hospital.

I haven't found anything else on the Tom Ze board or on any other Brazilian groups, so I assume he's okay now.

...or at least I thought until I got this message from my friend Dri, who lives in Sao Paulo. I asked her if Gil was taking the job, and she replied, "It is really true. He accept the invitation, but started it already in the wrong way saying that he could not interrupt his career as musician because he could not live on 8000 reais a month (2,500 dollars). The majority in Brasil doesn't make 100 dollars a month. I do not know what to think. I think Gil is a good musician. Lets hope he will be a good minister. He had already been involved in politics before, but in a very superficial way."

(I quoted her before getting her permission, and didn't fix her minor spelling/grammar errors because it's cooler that way.)

and that Gil'll
handle his lot
more reasonably
in the days to come

and thanks, Matt

Yeah, of course. No analogy holds 100%. I think the important points are "worthy, but not necessarily deep." It also captures the idea of "musical aristocracy" that probably made sense in the UK around the Live Aid period but is less obvious now.

Also, Sting is perceived as a more political figure here in Brazil because of all his rain forest campaigning.

It's true in the anglo-saxon world we don't have either as strong a sense of rockocracy as the Tropicalia stars enjoy in Brazil. Nor have our musicians earned props by being exiled / imprisoned by the government.

Let's face it though, Gilberto Gil is a charismatic man who - and this is no trite understatement - is bound up with the fortunes of his country's people and their struggles against the dictatorship and fight for democracy.

I take this on board. Let's hope he does a good job. I'd figure this is a role where a big name symbol could do a lot of good work.

But stencil is also right. Government funding of the arts is far more significant here than in the US. So what Gil decides is important.

weirdly enough i'm reading veloso's tropical truth right now -- checked out from the grand army plaza library no less:

http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/00004073E9FAC073?artistid=737040&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=40

RAD

i missed seeing gilberto speak / play a few songs here a couple months ago cuz i was too hungover :( :( :(

YOU GODDAMN GIN SOAKED JOURNALISTS
YOU NEVER WOULD HAVE CUT IT AS A TROPICALISTA

more 2008 US dates

June 19th 2008 - Highland Park, IL
Ravinia Festival Pavillion
Gilberto Gil and Broad Band

June 21st 2008 - Westhampton Beach, NY
Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center
Gilberto Gil and Broad Band

June 22nd 2008 - Washington, DC
Lisner Auditorium
Gilberto Gil and Broad Band

June 29th 2008 - Los Angeles, CA
Hollywood Bowl

July 2nd 2008 - San Francisco, CA
Nob Hill Masonic Center
Gilberto Gil and Broad Band

July 5th 2008 - Miami, FL
Filmore at Jackie Gleason Theatre
Gilberto Gil and Broad Band

thx for that, was wondering about this tour

YES MY BRETHREN
LET'S HIT UP GILBERTO GIL IN THE HAMPY HAMPS

awww... SWEEET!!

was wondering if I would *ever* get the opportunity to see him live. And at Ravinia to boot (same place I saw Caetano play during his first ever US tour a decade or so ago.)

awesome awesome show

did not see w/ "broad band" though

He finally gave up the Minister of Culture position

that happened like a year ago, didn't it?

Yep, he just wanted to play music

I was just waiting in a restaurant for some food and I heard some Brazilian music while I was there.