Caetano Veloso: Tropical Truth

Caetano VELOSO has personified Brazilian music for over thirty-five years. Here, in his highly acclaimed memoir, he tells how he and a group of friends from the Northeastern state of Bahia created tropicalismo-and in so doing blew apart the status quo of Brazilian culture.

As a young man, Caetano (as fans of all ages call him) rebelled against the influx of commercial, American-im ported rock, choosing instead to follow in the path of bossa nova's master, Jo5o Gilberto, in devising an alternative. Tropicalismo aimed to "cannibalize" the beauty and richness of Brazil's folk songs while assimilating the most original elements of Anglo-American pop, creating a music that has earned fans as diverse as Beck and David Byrne.

Tropicalismo also celebrated personal freedom in politics, music, and lifestyle. This "rabble-rousing," as the government saw it, caused Caetano to be arrested for two months and exited to London for three years. He returned to Brazil a national hero.

Interweaving a rich national history with snapshots of its most idealistic generation, Caetano talks of everything from his imprisonment and exile, to the flood of teenage girls who accompanied him to his wedding, to his admiration for an unlikely rock star- Mick Jagger. Tropical Truth also tells of a brilliant constellation of artists, including Caetano's sister Maria BethAnia, Gilberto,Gil, Gat Costa, and Tom Z6. What emerges in Tropical Truth is an unforgettable portrait of "one of the [1960s’l great composers, period". (New York Times Book Review).

"As intricately textured and learned as one of Veloso's recordings. ****."-ROLLING STONE

CAETANO VELOSO, musician, filmmaker, poet, and revolutionary, was born in 1942 in Santo Amaro, Bahia, Brazil. He lives in Bahia and Rio de Janeiro.

Caetano Veloso: "Tropical Truth" - the book

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