Two Brazilian musical icons performed in South Florida over the weekend. In their heyday they were as important to Latin American music as the Beatles were to rock and roll.
Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil are both 73 today. But they haven’t slowed down. They’ve just released a live, acoustic retrospective album of their songs called “Two Friends, One Century of Music.”
The two led a movement in the 1960s and 70s known as Tropicália. It fused Brazilian rhythms with influences like rock – and its impact on Latin American music is still strong half a century later. Gil, who’s also a former Brazilian culture minister, told WLRN they hope audiences in 2016 are recognizing the seeds of modern Latin music.
“Contemporary Brazilian artists have a strong appreciation for the roots,” Gil said. “I can hear its presence in their songs.”
On Saturday night the two men played at Miami’s Bayfront Park. As they performed last night at the Faena Theater in Miami Beach, back home in their native Brazil President Dilma Rousseff was being impeached by the country's Congress. It was a reminder of Brazil’s severe political and economic crises.
“What worries me most,” Veloso said, “is that all this could reverse Brazil’s progress in reducing its inequality, which was the worst in the world.”
