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Tropicalismo, otherwise known as Tropicália, is a form of Brazilian music that arose in the late 1960s from a melange of bossa nova, rock and roll, Bahia folk music, and perhaps Portuguese fado. As a reaction against the perceived clichés of pop music, tropicalismo was driven by socially aware lyrics and political activism following the coup of 1964, much like its contemporary Brazilian film movement, Cinema Novo. The music categorized by the tropicalismo movement is related more by its sense of free spirit than by any instrumentation or other characteristics. The style was popular for only a brief period, and evolved in MPB (musica popular Brasileira) by 1971.
Although it attained little commercial success outside of Brazil, it influenced subsequent rock musicians, such as David Byrne, Beck, Kurt Cobain, and Nelly Furtado. In 1998, Beck released Mutations (album), the title of which is a tribute to Tropicalismo pioneers Os Mutantes. Its hit single, "Tropicalia", went as high as #21 on the Billboard Modern Rock singles chart.
In 2002 Caetano Veloso published an account of the Tropicalia movement, "Tropical Truth: A Story of Music and Revolution in Brazil." The 1999 compilation "Tropicália Essentials," featuring songs by Gil, Veloso, Gal Costa, Tom Zé and Os Mutantes, is an excellent introduction to the style.
Key Artists
External Links - An article from PBS newshour on the impact of Tropicalismo and Caetano Veloso (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/veloso/tropicalia.html)
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