tropicália

Tropicália (Portuguese pronunciation: [tɾopiˈkaʎɐ, tɾɔpiˈkaljɐ]), also known as tropicalismo ([tɾopikɐˈlizmu, tɾɔpikaˈ-]), was a Brazilian artistic movement that arose in the late 1960s. It was characterized by the amalgamation of Brazilian genres—notably the union of the popular and the avant-garde, as well as the melding of Brazilian tradition and foreign traditions and styles. Today, tropicália is chiefly associated with the musical faction of the movement, which merged Brazilian and African rhythms with British and American psychedelia and pop rock. The movement also included works of film, theatre, and poetry.

The term tropicália (tropicalismo) has multiple connotations in that it played on images of Brazil being that of a “tropical paradise”. Tropicalia was presented as a “field for reflection on social history”.

The movement was begun by a group of musicians from Bahia notably Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Tom Zé, and the poet-lyricist Torquato Neto. Later the group moved from Salvador (the capital of Bahia) to São Paulo where they met with collaborators Os Mutantes and Rogério Duprat among others. They went on to produce the 1968 album Tropicália: ou Panis et Circencis, which served as the movement’s manifesto.

Tropicália was not only an expression in analyzing and manipulating culture but also a mode of political expression. The tropicália movement came to fruition at a time when Brazil’s military dictatorship and left-wing ideas held distinct but prominent amounts of power simultaneously. The tropicalists’ rejection of both sides’ version of nationalism (the military’s conservative patriotism and the ineffectual bourgeois anti-imperialism) was met with criticism and harassment.The dissolution of the movement by the early 1970s birthed a new wave of soloists and groups identifying as “post-tropicalist”. The movement has inspired many artists nationally and internationally. Additionally, tropicalia continues to be a main feature in the original Bahian group and their fellows’ work.

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