The Case of the Love Letter to Tropicalia

Lucky lucky listeners...  this is the first episode of the Adventures of Encyclopedia Sound where we will hear Brazilian music from the Tropicalismo movement!

The Tropicalismo movement occurred in Brazilian music between the years of 1967 and 1970. Many of the musicians who began this movement went on to become the biggest stars in Brazilian music:  Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Tom Ze, and Os Mutantes were the central figures in the Tropicalia movement.

Musically, the Tropicalismo movement was a confluence of 3 influences:  traditional Brazilian beats (samba, forro, etc), rock and roll, and late 60s studio sophistication. Producer Rogerio Duprat participated in virtually every important album of this movement, providing arrangements for strings and orchestra... his influence is even greater than that of George Martin to The Beatles. 

Culturally, Tropicalismo began as an avante garde movement in art and music. In time it encompassed a massively popular youth movement in Brazil, and also a political movement directly opposed to the military regime that governed Brazil from 1964 to 1985.

The central product of the Tropicalia movement was the "Tropicalia" LP of 1968, a collaboration among all artists named above. In the first hour this week we will hear tracks from that album, along with solo work from these artists in the late 60s.

The second hour this week focuses on the event that cut short the Tropicalismo movement:  the exile of Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil from Brazil in 1969. Both artists were flown to London, where they lived until they were allowed to return to Brazil in 1972. Both men recorded solo albums in London in 1971... we will hear tracks from those albums, and also some of the music they recorded when they returned to Brazil.