Caetano Veloso

b. Caetano Emanuel Vianna Telles Veloso, 7 August 1942, Santa Amaro da Purifacação, Bahia, Brazil. Veloso has been compared at times to Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Bob Marley - another way of saying he is a cultural icon who has managed to be both a traditionalist and a rebel, often at the same time. In the course of more than 30 years, Veloso has continuously created some of Brazil’s most original and engaging pop, putting his unmistakable stamp on whatever he chooses to do. Veloso began playing music and writing poetry at an early age, but his musical life started for real when he moved to Rio in 1965. Along with fellow Bahians Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa and his sister, Maria Bethânia, Veloso began making appearances on the televised song festivals, where he quickly provoked controversy with his use of electric guitars, cryptic lyrics and strange getups. Although his 1967 debut, a collaboration with Costa entitled Domingo, revealed his love for bossa nova, Veloso was also absorbing other influences, and he and his cohorts were intent on bringing all these together. The result was tropicalismo, a jumble of Brazilian roots, rock ‘n’ roll heart and high-flying artistic theories that found its anthem in Veloso’s song ‘Tropicália’. Audiences did not always like it, but they paid attention - as did the authorities, who jailed Veloso and Gilberto Gil for several months in 1969. The two then spent the next few years in London, England, and when they returned they were bigger than ever. Over the next decade, Veloso released a slew of records that illustrated both his poetic sensibility and a wide range of musical influences - bossa nova, Beatlesque pop, African rhythm and jazz fusion - highlighted by albums such as Jóia and Cinema Transcendental, the latter recorded with his new band, A Outra Banda De Terra. In 1976, he reunited with Gil, Costa and Bethânia to tour and record as Doces Bárbaros (Sweet Barbarians). By the 80s, Veloso had gained a growing international audience, but he continued to challenge himself and his listeners. Caetano Veloso (1986) and Estrangeiro (1989), his first North American productions, sparked even greater international visibility with Veloso pulling out numerous surprises from his bag of tricks. Veloso’s work over the following decade continued to push the barriers of the tropicalismo style, including his 1993 reunion with Gil on the superb studio album Tropicália 2, and 1997’s award-winning Livro. In 2004 he released A Foreign Sound, his first album sung entirely in English. On this release Veloso tackled a diverse range of American songwriters, including Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, David Byrne and Kurt Cobain.