Gilberto, But You Can Call Me Gil

Gilberto Gil
Album: Gilberto Gil
Song: Expresso 2222

One of the founding members of, and driving forces behind, the Musica Popular Basileira.  Musical innovator.  Jailed for being a threat to the Brazilian military regime that took power in 1964.  Exile from his country.  Environmental activist. Goodwill Ambassador to the UN.  Politician.  Grammy award winner.  Minster of Culture.  Drug reform advocate.  Inveterate pot smoker.

And a hell of a musician.

I first became aware of Gilberto Gil when David Byrne (lead singer of Talking Heads) produced two albums of Brazilian music in the late 80s.  Gil was prominently featured, and I promptly fell in love with the muscularity of his playing, his energy, and his great melodic sensibility.  Didn't know what the hell he was singing about, but that hardly mattered to me.  In fact, it's almost more fun not to know; I can focus on the slippery aesthetic appeal of the vocal sounds themselves without associating them with the blunt literalness of meaning.  But for those of you more inclined to the poetic side of song, "Expresso 2222" is basically a Christian message about the ephemeral nature of Christ's presence; that Christ appears to us not in concrete ways but that if we look hard enough we can see him in everything.*  Regardless, few songs get my toes tapping faster than this little gem.

And I really really really dig his guitar playing: precise, sensitive, muscular.  A good combination.



* This song was written when Gil was a Christian.  Obviously.  He is now agnostic.