Gilberto Gil, Brazil’s Marley
IF Pele is the king of sports in Brazil, Gilberto Gil is the country’s monarch of music.
Like Bob Marley in Jamaica, Gil is highly regarded as a champion for the oppressed. His biting commentaries have been compared to Marley’s work, as well as Nigerian firebrand Fela Kuti.
In 2001, Gil and his band traveled to Marley’s Tuff Gong studio in Kingston, where he recorded songs for Kaya N’Gan Daya, a tribute album to the reggae king.
Working with Marley’s harmony group, the I Three, Gil and his musicians put their distinctive Latin feel to Marley standards such as Positive Vibration, Three Little Birds, Rebel Music and Them Belly Full.
Kaya N’Gan Daya was released in 2002. One year later, Gil was named minister of culture in President Luiz Inacio da Silva’s cabinet.
— HC
