Tropicalismo

Tropicalismo, also known as Tropicália, is a Brazilian art movement that arose in the late 1960s and encompassed theatre, poetry and music, among other forms. Tropicalia was influenced by

Tropicalismo, also known as Tropicália, is a Brazilian art movement that arose in the late 1960s and encompassed theatre, poetry and music, among other forms. Tropicalia was influenced by poesia concreta, a genre of Brazilian avant garde poetry embodied in the works of Augusto de Campos, Haroldo de Campos and Décio Pignatari, among a few others.

"Tropicalismo" or "Tropicália" is associated almost exclusively with the movement's musical expression, both in Brazil and internationally; a form of Brazilian music that arose in the late 1960s from a melange of bossa nova, rock and roll, Bahia folk music, African music and Portuguese fado. Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil are considered to be the leaders of the movement. Veloso, Gil and other artists commonly associated with the movement, notably Os Mutantes, have experimented with unusual time signatures and other means of heterodox song structures. A lot of Tropicalismo artists were driven by socially aware lyrics and political activism following the coup of 1964, much like its contemporary Brazilian film movement, Cinema Novo (brazilian new wave). The movement only lasted consistently for a few years, and, in part, is responsible for what is now known as MPB, Música Popular Brasileira (Brazilian Popular Music). Tropicália as a movement ended in 1969 when its' leaders, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, were jailed for about a month and, shortly after their release, exiled by the military government.