Customer Reviews

Tropical Truth: A Story of Music and Revolution in Brazil

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Songwriter Caetano Veloso is one of Brazil's most iconic artistic figures; along with Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa and others, he created the "tropicalia" movement, which reconciled the magic of bossa nova with the psychedelic splendor of '60s rock. This is an English translation of his autobiography, a densely-written, super-intellectual, but also quite charming and down-to-earth account of the "heroic years" of the tropicalia movement. Veloso gives an intimate, immensely informative account of Brazilian music, from the pre-bossa "radio singers" he grew up with to the intense ideological rivalries between the hippie-ish tropicalia artists and the left-wing party-liners of the bossa nova crowd. The book is also a memoir of life under the Brazilian military dictatorship which took power in 1964, eventually sending Veloso and Gil (and countless other artists) into political exile, while attempting to censor their work and silence their voices. The role of the artist in all aspects of life -- social, spiritual and aesthetic -- resonates throughout this book, as Veloso gives an invaluable insider's view of an artistic movement that changed the course of Brazilian culture. This book basically ends in the early 1970s... it would be great if he could follow up with a second volume exploring the growth (although some might call it decline) of Brazilian music in the decades that followed. (PS - this is the perfect companion to Ruy Guerra's similarly wonderful book, "Bossa Nova, The Sound That Seduced The World.")

I read this book in portuguese, when it first came out in Brazil, and i absolutely loved it. This book is not only about Caetano Veloso and his music. Caetano Veloso has a very unique way to see people and to write about them, and in his life he had the privilege to meet some of the most important people in Brazil's cultural scene. In his book he tells us many precious stories about Chico Buarque de Hollanda, Gilberto Gil, Nara Leao, Paulinho da Viola and so many others. Some important moments of his life and also of Brazilian history are also told from a very personal point of view: stories of Caetano and Gil's prison and exile during brazilian dictatorship were specially moving to me. And then there are some fabulous stories about the beginnings of Caetano's carreer, how it all started. Caetano has such an insteresting point of view about everything, it's awesome to be able to get inside his mind, and that's how i felt reading his book. I actually ended up reading it twice. I think though, that this book can be better appreciated by people who really know brazilian music and culture well. Another reviewer mentioned that Caetano talks about lots of "obscure artists", but i don't think this is a true statement. He talks about very important people in brazilian culture, including writers, film directors and musicians. The people he mentions are very known in Brazil,and he also talks about important european and american artists. The people he mentions in his book are not obscure at all. Probably, if you know who he is talking about it makes for a much better reading experience. So, if you have a curious mind and are interested in art, music, and Brazil, this is certainly a wonderful book to read. And, like me, you may want to read it more than once...

This is an exciting and unusual book -- it's a memoir of the life of one of the century's greatest songwriters (according to Rolling Stone), who is probably fairly unknown in the US because he sings in Portuguese. It's also a history of the 60's and 70's in Brazil, a time that included rule by military dictatorships (who imprisoned and exiled Veloso). It's also a passionate history of Brazilian music, through the lens of the tropicalia movement created by Veloso, Gilberto Gil (also imprisoned with Veloso, and recently named Minister of Culture by newly elected President Lula!), Gal Costa, Tom Ze and others. It's personal, scholarly, revealing, and will offer a glimpse into the mind and soul of a fascinating musical genius.

This is a book that needed to be written. I am disappointed both in Caetano Veloso and in the English translation, however.

First, the translation of this book is incredibly annoying because the translator randomly decides to translate the names of some works of art into English and leaves other names in the original Portuguese. For example, I was confused by references to a movie called "Land in Anguish" until I realized Caetano was talking about Glauber Rocha's movie "Terra em Transe." Who in the world knows the movie as "Land in Anguish"? In other cases, song names were left in their originial Portuguese. Why the different treatment?

Besides the unpredictable translation, I admit that I read this book with bias. I have become disappointed and bored with the artistic directions in which Caetano has travelled since the mid-1980s. He has become increasingly self-indulgent, arrogant, and at times down-right condescending and snobby in his media presence and artistic performances, especially through the 1990s.

And so much of that sense of self-importance permeates Caetano's narrative memoir of his 50 year encounter with the Brazilian music industry... first as a fan and then as a music maker. So many events, stories, people, and performances are refracted through the lense of a narrator who feels no modesty at all. What kind of narrator would brag about having great philosophical and metaphysical insights as seven year old? Caetano does. It is interesting how Caetano remembers the origin of the name "Gal Costa." Apparently it was entirely a decision arrived by Guilherme Araujo over Caetano's objections. Over Caetano's Objections? Why does Caetano even think he had the authority to object or to speak for Maria da Gra?a Penna Burgos, either then or now. It is funny that nowhere in the account of the name does Caetano once mention how Gal Costa herself felt about her stage name. Did she like it quickly or was she uncomfortable at first? We don't know. Caetano doesn't care and apparently he doesn't think we should either... although he tells us how HE feels about it... that he now likes it even though it has taken him many years to get used to it... Please!!!

My judgment of Caetano was sealed by his accounts of his marriage to and relationship with his ex-wife. Of course I was biased because I know how that story ended: with Veloso having an affair in 1982 with a 14 year old girl, divorcing his wife, and then marrying the 14 year old when she finally became old enough to get married in 1986. "Poor girl" was all I could think as Caetano describes how reluctantly he walked down the aisle - apparently just to make his future in-laws happy - and with what veiled contempt he holds for his ex-wife and his marriage to her: he subtly calls her "naive" at one point, and never talks about her as having been an intelligent woman or an intellectual, but rather as being "attracted to the literary and artistic milieu". Caetano sums up his wife when he says that his marriage gave him a "youthful happiness of social success (to have a girlfriend!)" and then adds that his wife "Dede' was the right person for that experience."

From a historian's point of view, this book - or something like it - needs to have been written. Too much of the history of Brazilian pop music and pop culture from the 1960s is about to become forgotten. BUt it was very painful to wade through Caetano's arrogant, narcissistic dirty laundry just to learn about the history of pop music in Brazil.

This book is so painful to read. The sentences are so long and complex. It was like reading a philosophy book. I have to agree with a lot of the sentiment expressed in the other reviews that say this book is really inaccessible unless you're an intellectual. It's not like my brain is too stupid to understand complicated sentences, it's just that I wish he could say things a little plainer so I don't lose interest so fast.

I disagree with the reviews that say he's begging to be admired through writing this book. Even with the super-intellectual tone, this book didn't come off at all arrogant or snobby. And I don't say that because of the constant comments the author makes about being unable to play guitar worth a damn, but because he shares information about himself and his contemporaries in a way that shows he understands his place in it all--he's not arrogant about it but remember he and Gil were the founders of this huge movement tropicalia. He is a big deal!

I agree there was a lot of name-dropping going on, but this guy has led an exciting life, so any readers who were fans of these writers or musicians whose names he drops would be excited to see Caetano refer to them, and I think the author had this in mind when he chose to include so many people by name. I noticed he doesn't just include famous people or intellectuals, but he refers to a number of the prison guards and other unfamous people by name in the book (though he mysteriously doesn't remember the name of the one woman he truly loved... I don't buy it!). I think this is just meant to give these individuals the pleasure of seeing their name in print as well as knowing Caetano's gratitude.

I didn't know much about Brazilian history before reading this especially Brazilian music, and I was hoping to get a lot out of this book. I had to read it because Brazilian music from this period of time has touched me like no other music can, and I can't explain why since I wasn't there and I can't speak Portuguese. I thought this book would shed some light, but it didn't. I think this book would only be enjoyed by people who lived through this period of Brazilian history and would remember all these individuals and events by name and be able to sort through the author's lack of attention to important, necessary details like providing a direct timeline. He jumps back and forth to before, in and after prison experiences and memories. He knows he's doing it, too, as he mentions it early on in the book that his mind will wander as he writes and he makes no apologies for it. That's fine but it doesn't help me understand much of what's going on. Oh well I love the music of these courageous people and this brilliant, creative generation and even if this book does little to enhance that, it certainly doesn't take away from it.

If one were to compare "Tropical Truth" with critical writings on Tropicália, it would seem unusual that Caetano Veloso writes more as an observer rather than a central figure in the development of an artistic movement that impacted contemporary Brazilian music. Veloso approaches the subject with remarkable erudition, surprising detachment, and subtle humor; and the result is as much a historical record as it is a meditation on the people, places and events of the time.

My only complaint would be regarding the editing. Veloso writes using long sentences--unwittingly imitating Saramago, perhaps?--and the translation could have used a bit more polish. Otherwise, it is an excellent work from an equally excellent artist.

I note some have criticized the translation. I searched "little lion" in the book and saw how "O Lećozinho" was translated: I have to agree it's pretty weak. If you're going to read a book in which a songwriter explores the thoughts behind his songs, wouldn't it be nice if the translation reflected what he wrote a bit more closely? "Drawing my gaze like a magnet" becomes "You're a captivating sight"; "My heart is the sun, father of every color, when it makes gold his skin in his loafing" becomes "When the sunlight lights on you, color floods into my heart." So if you care for insight into Caetano Veloso's poetic way of speaking in his songs, the book seems to fail on that.

This is a very complex, very interesting account by an amateur writer. Caetano is not “dying to be an intellectual” (as one reviewer remarked) – he is one (though some seem to resent that) and was from the start – even before it was clear that he should choose a musical career. He’s not pretentious – he simply tells us what he had in mind at the time and how he thinks about it today.
If he thinks too much for you – fair enough, leave it then, but don’t blame the author for your personal tastes.

Besides the book is very honest, emotional, personal and candid (sexuality, imprisonment). Anyone who calls him pretentious or vain should read the chapter about his two month imprisonment titled: “Narcissus on Vacation”.
I loved the respect with which he writes about a lot of collegues (contemporary or of old).
In comparison I was taken aback by Ruy Castro’s superficial account of Bossa Nova, where I found the musicians lives more “used” for the sake of entertainment than respected.

Btw: it is really very funny when one reviewer tells us how disgusted he was to hear Caetano sing "Feelings" in a concert recently. Because that was such a "Tropicalia"-thing to do. Just like he provoked his audience when he recorded "Coracao Materno" or sang songs from Carmen Miranda. I wonder what that reader read that book for.
After 30 years Caetano seems to be still ahead of us.

The problem is the translation. Not knowing Portuguese though, I can only assume that Caetano writes eloquently in his native language. I base this on having watched the DVD Outros Doces Barbaros, the 25th reunion of Doces Barbaros (w/ Gil, Gal, and Bethania). Here, based on the English subtitles, he articulates his ideas very clearly.
BUT, this book is very tedious to read: long complex sentences that I suspect are a result of literal equivalencies i.e. word for word--instead of conceptual ones. I had to start the book 3 times before I could finally finish it. I am a musician who is a great admirer of Brazilian pop music and this book is a great resource and reference tool. If you can wade through the verbiage, it is a very rewarding read. All in all, kudos to Caetano. Just next time, he should hire a better translator.

I can't think of any other pop musician in the world besides Caetano Veloso who could pull off writing a book that gives so much insight into the personal relationships, political climate, and artistic influences that help form their own work. The brilliant "Tropical Truth" is something of a combination between an autobiography of Caetano's earlier years, an analysis of his work, a document of the "Tropicalia" movement which he started, and a look at Brazilian counterculture and politics. It illuminates his early work in such a way that I felt after reading it I appreciated his early work on a much higher level. Non-portuguese speakers like myself will probably appreciate the explanations of the wordplay that occurs in songs like "Alegria, Alegria". Caetano writes knowledgeably on a variety of topics, and if there are particular weaknesses about this book, it is that is written in a quite roundabout way in places, and I imagine it would be difficult even for the relatively well-informed non-Brazilian to keep up with his discussion of Brazilian musical styles, European cinema, Brazilian "Cinema Novo", Latin American literature, and contemporary art. I found this book a joy to read however, and essential reading for anybody interested in Brazilian popular music.