IMN - International Music Network
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“I knew music was my language, that music would take me to know the world, would take me to other lands. Because I believed there was music from the earth and music from the heavens.”
In the countryside of Bahia, as a kid, when Gilberto Gil used to run after the first clarinet sounds of the band that crossed town to celebrate the religious festivity, a magical moment occurred, when he realized that music was his language.
Although Gil has chosen to develop a solid work on the guitar throughout the years, his first steps into music were on the accordion, in his early years, initially inspired by local bands and radio music, especially by baião´s pioneer Luiz Gonzaga.
Baiao is a music genre from the northeast, developed from European classic styles of folk music as “Chula” and “Xotis”, and influenced by Asian, African and Indian music. It was modernly formatted and disseminated by the acclaimed composer, accordionist and singer Luiz Gonzaga, who was responsible for crowning the genre a noble title in Brazilian music. Consisting primarily of tambour, triangle and accordion, baião expresses northeastern lifestyle and miscegenation; it is the soundtrack for the catholic June festivities and popular balls, called forró. The sensual forró dance, the left-left-hop-right-right-hop steps, danced in pairs, is a delightful final product for a cultural expression extracted from the Indian gatherings, from samba , and Portuguese Xotis( originated from the German polka: “Schottische”), as well as other various influences that Brazilian culture has welcomed and absorbed.
The path Gil has tracked to develop his unique way to express Brazilian culture is a long journey that surpasses Joao Gilberto and Bossa Nova, Tropicalia movement, Hendrix, Beatles, the exile in London, Reggae, Jamaica, samba,etc… countless reinventions of the self and Brazilian music.
Baião makes its way back, in sounds of 2012. FOR ALL – The tour, innovates baião in the voice of Gilberto Gil, accompanied by guitarist Sergio Chiavazzolli, drums player Jorge Gomes, bass player Arthur Maia, accordionist Toninho Ferragutti, violin player Nicholas Krassik and percussionist Gustavo Di Dalva, reinventing old classics, and presenting new songs as “Fé na Festa”, o “Livre Atirador e a Pegadora”, from the recently released album and live dvd “Fé na Festa” all dedicated to baião.
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He played delicate bossa novas, strummed rockers and intricate sambas; he crooned, whispered and whooped, equally at home in the fast patter of a samba or the courvaceous contours of a ballad. Mr. Gil didn’t trumpet his virtuosity. It was offered genially, like his melodies and his undidactic thoughts on love, poetic license and mortality.
New York Times
The prevailing tone of Gil’s songs is a ruminative sweetness, albeit one achieved via brainy harmonic and melodic gambats…
LA Times
There may have been one man onstage, but there was enough warmth, love, intelligence and sheer talent on display to power an orchestra.
Variety
Gil defies his age, becoming if anything more captivating, exuberant, and irreplaceable with each passing year.
The New Yorker
