Gilberto Gil -- Don't miss your plane! Don't miss Gil's US Tour

A few years ago I saw an amazing Gilberto Gil concert at the Maritime Hall in San Francisco. Gil played with his band, the music was incredible, the house energy flaming. One of those concerts that you just can't stand still. And we didn't.

My husband and I were flighting to Europe the next morning, for some reason our alarm clock didn't go off, and, oops, we almost missed our plane. No wonder, one could expect that after a full night of Gil.

So, considering that you have a reliable alarm clock, and you are in the Davis/Sacramento (California) on March 28th, I strongly recommend Gil's concert at the Mondavi, or any of these concert Halls listed below:

March 15th 2007 - Toronto, Canada
Massey Hall

March 16th 2007 - Ann Arbor, MI
University of Michigan - Hill Auditorium

March 18th 2007 - Washington, DC
GW Lisner Auditorium

March 20th 2007 - New York, NY
Carnegie Hall

March 21st 2007 - New Bedford, MA
Zeiterion Theatre

March 24th 2007 - Los Angeles, CA
Royce Hall
UCLA

March 25th 2007 - Berkeley, CA
Zellerbach Auditorium
UC Berkeley

March 27th 2007 - Davis, CA
Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts
UC Davis

March 28th 2007 - Redwood City, CA
Fox Theatre

March 30th 2007 - Miami, FL
Miami Performing Arts Center

March 31st 2007 - Tampa, FL
Ferguson Theatre
Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center

A Brazilian Legend

The inimitable Gil has had one of the most relevant and renowned careers in world and pop music. He has recorded 50 albums — including 12 gold and five platinum records —which have sold more than five million copies, earning him seven Grammy Awards, including one in 2005 for "Eletracustico." Gil wrote the 15 songs on "Gil Luminoso" over a span of some 25 years, but they all possess a common spiritual character and reveal some of the deepest philosophical facets of his art, a quality enhanced by the solo performance. The album, recorded in 1999, was released in Brazil in 2006 as a companion to Bené Fonteles' book "GiLuminoso: a po.Ética do Ser." Gil's prolific catalog has been recorded by such artists as João Gilberto, Elis Regina, Gal Costa, Sérgio Mendes, Ernie Watts and Toots Thielemans.

Over the years, Gil's social, political and environmental activism has gained prominence alongside his music. Gil was a spokesman for Brazil's black consciousness movement in the 1970s and '80s, working with Jamaican reggae star Jimmy Cliff and covering Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry," which climbed to No. 1 in Brazil and sold 700,000 copies. In the early '90s, Gil found widespread support for his political beliefs and was elected to the city council in Salvador, his hometown. In 2002, Brazil's newly elected President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva appointed Gil minister of culture, with a key role in the modernization of Brazilian culture.

Salvador, the capital of Bahia state, and its rich and powerful traditions have had a deep influence on Gil's art and philosophy. One of the oldest cities in Brazil, Salvador is the center of Afro-Brazilian culture, nurturing candomblé religious practice, capoeira martial arts and Afro-based musical styles. Gil joined his first group, the Desafinados, in the mid-1950s and studied business administration at Salvador's Federal University. When he first heard João Gilberto on the radio, Gil immediately bought a guitar and learned to play bossa nova. Known mostly as a guitarist, he also holds his own with drums, trumpet and accordion, inspired by Salvador's street musicians. He spent the early 1960s composing songs for TV ads and joined Nos Por Exemplo, a showcase featuring bossa nova and traditional Brazilian songs, directed by Caetano Veloso. In 1965, he moved to São Paulo and had his first hit when singer Elis Regina recorded his "Louvação." Gil made his first self-titled recording in 1966, and his first hit single was 1969's "Aquele Abraço."

As a leader of the Tropicália movement in 1967–68 along with Veloso and Gal Costa, he helped opened up Brazilian folk music to other influences and later secured his fame internationally. Gil says he was "inspired to try to bring rock 'n 'roll elements into Brazilian music, as well as the experiments of Stockhausen and the avant-garde, and use open speech to talk about society, politics and the source of life itself." But his own left-wing community, as Gil describes it, "reacted negatively. Electric guitars were considered imperialist, and there was this idea that Brazilian music should be kept pure. But Brazil has never been pure."

When the country's military dictatorship took over in 1964, this openness and the accompanying air of resistance was an anathema. While the government tightened its power, Tropicália enjoyed its own short-lived television show, "Divine, Marvelous." On the Christmas edition, Veloso held a gun to his head while singing a traditional song. This coincided with the passing of International Act No. 5, which eroded basic human rights and made torture routine. At 3 a.m., after the show, Veloso and Gil were arrested and taken to solitary cells in Rio de Janeiro. "In the end they gave us lots of ridiculous reasons for putting us in jail," said Gil, "like 'You work for the communists, you want to destroy our youth' ... The real reason was: 'You are too enigmatic and we can't understand you, so it's better that you are in jail.' " Prison was followed by four months under curfew in Salvador. When Gil asked the colonel in charge for a solution, he was told to leave Brazil.

On July 5, 1969, Veloso and Gil arrived in London and spent nearly three years in exile, working with artists such as Pink Floyd, Yes, the Incredible String Band and Rod Stewart. When Gil returned to Brazil in 1972, the experience spurred two hit singles ("Back in Bahia" and "Oriente") and led to recording sessions with Jorge Ben Jor and tours with Veloso, Gal Costa and Maria Bethânia. Gil recorded many albums for Brazilian companies and forged an international deal with the WEA group of labels in 1977. In the U.S. in 1978, he toured colleges and later played jazz clubs in New York City and Los Angeles. In 1982, he had a huge crossover hit with his song "Palco." He continues to make recordings that cement his place in the musical world.

[source: UCLA News]