13.06.2017
Text by Busen Dostgül
Musician, politician and artist Gilberto Gil remains to be one of the most inspiring figures of music scene as he turned 75 at 26th June. As an important representative of tropicalia and bossa nova genres in Brazil, Gil has always been a unique character. We are celebrating his upcoming birthday with some quotes on important periods of his life and career.
*“I see the future of Brazil as the future of the planet.”
* “Like most artists and musicians, I considered myself detached from the political life...but I had an insight that maybe we would have a political contribution to make in the future.”
*“Brasília is a weird place but I like being here. I can focus on the job here, there's no city madness and I don't need urban stimulation.”
*Gilberto Gil, who is also one of the early contributors of Glastonbury Festival, speaks his thoughts on choosing London for a residency between 1969-72, when he was forced to leave his country, Brazil, due to political reasons:
"I was opened up to new music in London. For a while, it was the absolute centre of things. That was one reason for choosing it when I had to leave Brazil – not just for music, but the whole revolutionary attitude of young people."
*“Brazil was, is, and will be in fashion.”
*“We should also start taking care of the future, not just the heritage.”
*Gilberto Gil has been criticized for mixing western music with Brazilian music, but he didn’t mind at all:
“It is not a matter of doing it just to be new or modern. It is more something that reflects the modernizing process going on around you. Being modern and being modernized go together. And that is respecting tradition for me. It means you appreciate the music and its values because you are engaging with it.”
*Gilberto Gil was known in the 70’s music scene and in Brazil for mixing the traditional customs with the modern world. This is what he has to say about it:
“That’s something that I’ve been growing up with, this sense of sharing, of being together with other people and having this cultural interchange between nations. It’s not something that I suddenly discovered, no, it’s something that’s accompanied me through my years, at the college, at the university and then when I had my first ideas about socialism and everything. It’s something that’s been following me since my youth.”
*"People ask if you are trying to change the world," he says, "or trying to reflect it, through music. Well, sometimes you use music as directly as a speech. You say, 'Listen to this song! I'm talking to you because I want you to see something or do something in respect of your political, human or social responsibilities.”