BAM presents Caetano Veloso & Gilberto Gil: Two Friends, One Century of Music—April 20 & 21
Legendary musicians and friends Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil—icons of Brazil’s influential Tropicália movement—bring a historic tour to the BAM Howard Gilman Opera house for two nights only
Bloomberg Philanthropies is the Season Sponsor
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette Ave) April 20 & 21 at 8pm Tickets start at $35 Tickets available to the general public via BAM.org on Mar 8 (BAM member on sale Mar 1)
Brooklyn, NY/Feb 26, 2016—A celebration of 50 years of friendship and shared artistry, Caetano Veloso & Gilberto Gil: Two Friends, One Century of Music reunites two of the world’s iconic artists and composers, performing songs that speak to their friendship and creative partnership. Since the success of 1994’s Tropicália 2 tour audiences have been hoping to see these legends together again in concert, but it wasn’t until last year—after many individual new projects and albums—that the timing felt right for the two to embark on this shared adventure. Caetano Veloso & Gilberto Gil: Two Friends, One Century of Music toured Europe and several Latin American countries in 2015; the BAM engagement is part of a US tour that will take them to Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
For press information about the BAM engagement, please contact Adriana Leshko at [email protected] or 718.724.8021.
About the artists For over 35 years, Grammy Award-winning artist Caetano Veloso has been a major musical, social, and cultural force in Brazil, and an influential figure to musicians all over the world. He is perhaps Brazil’s greatest contemporary songwriter and is among the most significant artists to come out of the Tropicália movement of the late 1960s. The New York Times’ Jon Pareles calls him “one of the greatest songwriters of the century.” Although Tropicália set the tone for Caetano’s career, his music has evolved greatly over the years. Incorporating elements of rock, reggae, fado, tango, samba canão, baião, and rap—with lyrics containing some of the best poetry in a musical tradition rich in verse—Veloso’s music is sometimes traditional, sometimes contemporary, often hybrid. At once an astute social commentator and balladeer of highly emotive love songs, Caetano is one of the most respected poets in the Portuguese language. His most recent release, Abraçaço, is the final installment of a trilogy with the youthful trio he employed on 2007’s Cê and 2009’s zii e zie known as the Banda Cê. Veloso performed songs from Abraçaço at BAM during 2014’s Nonesuch Records at BAM celebration of the influential record label.
Born in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, in 1942, Grammy Award-winning Brazilian singer, songwriter, guitarist, and activist Gilberto Gil is recognized for his far-reaching musical influence both at home and throughout the world. Gil, along with Caetano Veloso, helped to found the musical movement Tropicália, which combined the broad interests of young Brazilian musicians in the 1960s—both musical and political. The music that Veloso and Gil made was deemed threatening to the authoritarian Brazilian regime in power at the time, and, in 1969, the two were arrested and forced into exile. Gil has long since returned to his homeland and even served in several political offices, including as Brazil's Minister of Culture from 2003 to 2008. His illustrious career spans four decades with over 50 albums released, multiple Grammy Awards, twelve gold records, five platinum singles, and more than five million records sold. His most recent album is 2014’s Gilbertos Samba (Sony).
About Tropicália Absorbing musical and aesthetic ideas from sources as diverse as The Beatles, the French Dadaists, and the Brazilian modernist poets of the 1920s, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, along with Gal Costa, Veloso’s sister Maria Bethania, and a number of other poets and intellectuals, founded a movement called Tropicália. By experimenting with new sounds and words, adding electric guitars to their band, and utilizing the imagery of modern poetry, they created a musical revolution. This short- lived movement, founded in 1968, ended abruptly when Caetano and Gil were sent into exile and wound up living in London. Now universally credited with redefining what is known as Brazilian music, Tropicália laid the groundwork for a renaissance of Brazilian popular music both at home and abroad. Caetano and Gil returned to Brazil in 1972 and found that the movement remained intact and that their audience had continued to grow.
Credits Bloomberg Philanthropies is the Season Sponsor.
Support for the Signature Artist Series provided by the Howard Gilman Foundation.
BAM 2016 Winter/Spring Season supporters: Bank of America; Booth Ferris Foundation; brigitte nyc; William I. Campbell & Christine Wächter-Campbell; Charina Endowment Fund; Con Edison; The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation; Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art; Epstein Teicher Philanthropies; Jeanne Donovan Fisher; Judith R. & Alan H. Fishman; Ford Foundation; The Francena T. Harrison Foundation Trust; Stephanie & Timothy Ingrassia; J.P. Morgan; Jerome L. Greene Foundation; David L. Klein, Jr. Foundation; Diane & Adam E. Max; MetLife Foundation; The Ambrose Monell Foundation; Henry and Lucy Moses Fund, Inc.; Donald R. Mullen Jr.; Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, Inc.; Onassis Cultural Center NY; The Reed Foundation; The Jerome Robbins Foundation, Inc.; The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.; The Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund; The Scherman Foundation; The SHS Foundation; The Shubert Foundation, Inc.; The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust; Viacom; Time Warner Inc.; The TinMan Fund; Toll Brothers City Living; The Winston Foundation, Inc.; Estate of Martha Zalles
Delta is the Official Airline of BAM. Pepsi is the official beverage of BAM. Santander is the BAM Marquee sponsor. Yamaha is the official piano for BAM. New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge is the official hotel for BAM.
Your tax dollars make BAM programs possible through funding from the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts.The BAM facilities are owned by the City of New York and benefit from public funds provided through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs with support from Mayor Bill de Blasio; Cultural Affairs Commissioner Tom Finkelpearl; the New York City Council including Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Finance Committee Chair Julissa Ferreras, Cultural Affairs Committee Chair Jimmy Van Bramer, the Brooklyn Delegation of the Council, and Council Member Laurie Cumbo; and Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams. BAM would like to thank the Brooklyn Delegations of the New York State Assembly, Joseph R. Lentol, Delegation Leader; and New York Senate, Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Delegation Leader.
General Information BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks. BAM Fisher, located at 321 Ashland Place, is the newest addition to the BAM campus and houses the Judith and Alan Fishman Space and Rita K. Hillman Studio. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, offers a dinner menu prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of live music for BAMcafé Live on Friday and Saturday nights with a bar menu available starting at 6pm.
Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center (2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey Theater) D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal – Barclays Center Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Limited commercial parking lots are located near BAM. Visit BAM.org for information.
For ticket information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.
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