This week Sound Travels has been tripping over a revolutionary sound out of Brazil's late-60's era called Tropicalia. For the most part, I've been playing cuts crucial to the vintage; a cru of cuts from the genre's most seminal artists. Today, I played some that is far more new. Much of it from a compilation appropriately titled Nova-Tropicalia and featuring new groups and artists like the radical and rootsy experimentation of Lucas Santtana, the Os Mutantes-esque sound of Do Amor or the mysterious band Cerebro Electronico that takes its name from a deep cut from Gilberto Gil's catalogue.
Chico Buarque "Construçao / Deus Lhe Pague"
Lucas Santtana "Cira, Regina e Nana"
Do Amor "Isso E Carimbo"
Cerebro Electronico "Desquite"
Many don't know this, but tropicalia as a style of music gets its name from an artistic work created in the mid 60's by Brazilian experimental artist Hélio Oiticica. His work made radical and inventive use of color and his piece Tropicalia gave the genre of music its name. Wonder what it looked like? So did I...
Or how about this one...
and another...