Tropicalismo
Tropicalismo, also known as
Tropicália, is a Brazilian art movement that arose in the late 1960s and encompassed theatre, poetry and music, among other forms. It is said by some that Tropicalismo is somehow associated to
poesia concreta, a genre of Brazilian
avant garde poetry embodied in the works of
Augusto de Campos,
Haroldo de Campos and
Décio Pignatari, among a few others. [
1]
"Tropicalismo" or "Tropicália" is associated almost exclusively with the movement's musical expression, both in Brazil and internationally; a form of
Brazilian music that arose in the late
1960s from a melange of
bossa nova,
rock and roll,
Bahia folk music, African music and Potuguese
fado. Artists commonly associated with the movement, notably
Os Mutantes, have experimented with unusual
time signatures and other means of heterodox song structures. A lot of Tropicalismo artists were driven by socially aware lyrics and political activism following the
coup of
1964, much like its contemporary Brazilian film movement,
Cinema Novo (brazilian new wave). The movement only lasted consistently for a few years, and, in part, is responsible for what is now known as
MPB, Música Popular Brasileira (Brazilian Popular Music).
Although it attained little commercial success outside of Brazil, Tropicalismo has a growing popularity among
indie rock hipsters and music geeks alike [
2] [
3], and has been cited as an influence by rock musicians such as
David Byrne,
Beck,
Kurt Cobain,
Arto Lindsay and
Nelly Furtado. In
1998,
Beck released
Mutations, the title of which is a tribute to Tropicalismo pioneers Os Mutantes. Its hit single, "Tropicalia", went as high as #21 on the
Billboard Modern Rock singles chart.
In 2002
Caetano Veloso published an account of the Tropicalia movement, "Tropical Truth: A Story of Music and Revolution in Brazil." The 1999 compilation "Tropicália Essentials," featuring songs by Gil, Veloso, Gal Costa, Tom Zé and Os Mutantes, is an excellent introduction to the style. The 2006 collaboration "Tropicalia: A Brazilian Revolution In Sound" has received nearly universal acclaim[
4].
Tropicalia also took form in the visual arts scene of 1960s Brazil, helping fuel the careers of
Hélio Oiticica,
Lygia Clark and
Antonio Dias.
*
Caetano Veloso*
Os Mutantes*
Tom Zé*
Gilberto Gil*
Gal Costa*
Maria Bethania*
Jorge Ben Jor*McGowan, Chris and Pessanha, Ricardo. "The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova and the Popular Music of Brazil." Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998 ISBN 1-56639-545-3
*Dunn, Christopher. "Brutality Garden: Tropicália and the Emergence of a Brazilian Counterculture." Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8078-4976-6
*[FOB*SA] Ponce de Leon
*
An excerpt from "The Brazilian Sound" about the tropicalia and tropicalismo*
An article from PBS newshour on the impact of Tropicalismo and Caetano Veloso*
Brazilian Tropicália*
Re-Tropicalismo*
Review of London's Barbican Tropicalia Exhibition
