Caetano Veloso

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Caetano Veloso (born 7 August 1942) is one of the most popular and influential Brazilian composers and singers.

He was born in Santo Amaro da Purificação, Bahia, the fifth of the seven children born to José Telles Veloso ("Seu Zezinho") and Claudionor Vianna Telles Veloso ("Dona Canô"). He chose the name for his baby sister (Veloso's parents's sixth child), named after a famous song of the time (18 June 1946) by Nelson Gonçalves, Maria Bethânia. His sister preceded him to fame as a singer in the mid-1960s.

He began his career singing bossa nova and he has cited his greatest musical influences from his early period as João Gilberto and Dorival Caymmi. (João Gilberto would say later about Caetano's contribution that it added an intellectual dimension to brazilian popular music.) But with such musical collaborators Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Tom Zé, and Os Mutantes, and greatly influenced by the later work of The Beatles, developed tropicalismo, which fused Brazilian pop with rock and roll and avant garde art music resulting in a more international, psychedelic, and socially aware sound. Veloso's politically active stance, unapologetically leftist, earned him the enmity of Brazil's military dictatorship which ruled until 1985; his songs were frequently censored, and some were banned. Veloso and Gilberto Gil spent several months in jail for "anti-government activity" in 1968 and eventually exiled themselves to London. Caetano Veloso's work upon his return in 1972 was often characterized by frequent appropriations not only of international styles, but of half-forgotten Brazilian folkloric styles and rhythms as well. In particular, his celebration of the Afro-Brazilian culture of Bahia can be seen as the precursor of such Afro-centric groups as Timbalada.

In the 1980s, Veloso's popularity outside Brazil grew, especially in Israel, Portugal, France and Africa. By 2004, he was one of the most respected and prolific international pop stars, with more than fifty recordings available, including songs in soundtracks of movies such as Pedro Almodovar's Hable con Ella (Talk to Her), and Frida. In 2002 Veloso published an account of his early years and the Tropicalia movement, Tropical Truth: A Story of Music and Revolution in Brazil.

His first all-English CD was A Foreign Sound (2004), which covers Nirvana's "Come as You Are" and compositions from the Great American Songbook. Five of the six songs on his third eponymous album, released in 1971, were also in English.

Discography

Albums

  • 1967 - Domingo (with Gal Costa) Philips
  • 1967 - Alegria, alegria Philips
  • 1968 - Caetano Veloso Philips
  • 1968 - Tropicália ou Panis et circensis (with Gilberto Gil, Os Mutantes, Nara Leão, and Gal Costa) Philips
  • 1968 - Ao vivo (with Os Mutantes) Philips
  • 1968 - "Velloso, Gil e Bethania" RCA Victor
  • 1969 - Caetano Veloso Philips
  • 1971 - Caetano Veloso
  • 1972 - Transa Philips
  • 1972 - Barra 69 ao vivo na Bahia (with Gilberto Gil) Philips
  • 1972 - Caetano e Chico - Juntos ao Vivo (with Chico Buarque) Phonogram
  • 1973 - Araçá Azul Phonogram/Philips
  • 1974 - Temporada de Verão - ao vivo na Bahia (with Gilberto Gil and Gal Costa) Phonogram
  • 1975 - Jóia Philips
  • 1975 - Qualquer Coisa Philips
  • 1976 - Doces Bárbaros (with Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil and Maria Bethânia) Philips
  • 1977 - Bicho Philips
  • 1977 - Muitos Carnavais Phonogram/Philips
  • 1978 - Muito (dentro da estrela azulada) Philips
  • 1978 - Maria Bethânia e Caetano Veloso ao Vivo Phonogram
  • 1979 - Cinema Transcendental Polygram/Philips
  • 1981 - Outras Palavras Philips
  • 1981 - Brasil (with João Gilberto, Gilberto Gil and Maria Bethânia) WEA
  • 1982 - Cores, Nomes Philips
  • 1983 - Uns Philips
  • 1984 - Velô Philips
  • 1986 - Totalmente Demais Polygram/Philips (live)
  • 1986 - Caetano Veloso Nonesuch
  • 1987 - Caetano Veloso Philips
  • 1989 - Estrangeiro Philips
  • 1991 - Circuladô Polygram
  • 1992 - Circuladô Vivo Polygram
  • 1993 - Tropicália 2 (with Gilberto Gil) Polygram/Philips
  • 1994 - Fina Estampa Polygram
  • 1994 - Fina Estampa ao Vivo Polygram
  • 1995 - O Quatrilho Natasha/Blue Jackel (film soundtrack)
  • 1996 - Tieta do Agreste Natasha/Blue Jackel
  • 1997 - Livro Polygram
  • 1999 - Prenda minha Polygram
  • 1999 - Omaggio a Federico e Giulietta Universal Music (live)
  • 1999 - Orfeu Natasha (film soundtrack)
  • 2000 - Noites do Norte Universal Music
  • 2001 - Noites do Norte ao vivo Universal Music
  • 2002 - Eu não peço desculpas (with Jorge Mautner) Universal Music
  • 2002 - Todo Caetano (40 CD boxed set) Universal Music
  • 2004 - A Foreign Sound Universal Music

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