by Alvaro Neder (AMG)
Tom Zé began his career together with Caetano Veloso, Gilberto
Gil, Gal Costa, and Maria Bethânia. As a composer, he influenced
Caetano and many others and delivered an expressive body of work through
his own discography. A restless thinker, he was adept at modern erudite
music experimentations, yet he was always ignored by both industry and
audiences until he was discovered by David Byrne. He can be better understood
through his self-coined definition: "I don't make art, I make spoken
and sung journalism."
Zé was born in the Bahia hinterlands. The stronger musical references
of his childhood were the cocos by Jackson do Pandeiro, the forros by
Luiz Gonzaga, the local folklore, washerwoman's sambas de roda, and violeiros'
cantigas, together with the mass idols broadcast by the omnipresent Rádio
Nacional (only after 1949, when electricity arrived there). In 1951, he
was already in Salvador. A bad student, he discovered a great inspiration
in the arid Os Sertões (Euclides da Cunha), the coverage of the
battle of Canudos that brought a detailed description of him and his Northeastern
peers. Later, he joined the CPC, a popular culture center that acted as
cultural resistance organizations during the military dictatorship, researched
folklore, and producing culture based on the findings. After some partnerships
with the poet José Carlos Capinam for folkloric dances like bumba-meu-boi
and chegança, he was criticized by CPC members as he was becoming
repetitive. He hadn't accepted the criticism ("folklore is always
the same"), but he enrolled at the Music College of Bahia. After
a basic course to learn the rudiments of written music, he studied with
such luminaries as H.J. Koellreuter (music history), Piero Bastianelli,
Walter Smetak (violoncello), Aida Zolinger (piano), Edy Cajueiro (violão),
Ernest Widmer (composition), Yulo Brandão (counterpoint), Jamari
Oliveira (harmony), Lindembergue Cardoso (instrumentation), and Sérgio
Magnani (orchestration).
In 1963, he became acquainted with Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso in
Salvador, where actress Maria Muniz promoted weekly musical get-togethers,
also frequented by musicians and young artists such as Fernando Lona,
Alcyvando Luz, Orlando Senna, Maria Lígia, and Álvaro Guimarães.
On September 7, 1964, Zé had his opening night a the musical directed
by Caetano Veloso (Nós por Exemplo No. 2), with Caetano, Gil, Gal
Costa, Maria Bethânia, Alcyvando Luz, Perna Fróes (still
known as Antônio Renato), and percussionist Djalma Corrêa.
Soon, he joined the other Baianos in the Nova Bossa Velha -- Velha Bossa
Nova Show and in 1965, in the musical Arena Conta Bahia, which included
his composition (with Chico de Assis), "O Cachorro do Inglês."
The musical was such a success that Caetano, Gal, Gil, Bethânia,
and Zé were invited to record their singles through RCA. Then,
in the same year, Zé debuted in the record business with his single
"Maria do Colégio da Bahia." His "Parque Industrial"
was recorded on the album/manifesto Tropicália, and he recorded
his first LP Tom Zé (Rozemblit). His "São Paulo, meu
Amor" won first place at TV Record's IV FMPB (São Paulo),
and got fourth place and the Best Lyrics award at the same festival with
"2001" (with Rita Lee).
In 1969, he performed in Rio and São Paulo with Gal Costa in the
show O Som Livre de Tom Zé e Gal Costa. In 1970, he recorded Tom
Zé through RGE. The next year, he opened a music course in São
Paulo, Sofist Balacobaco -- muito som e pouco papo. In 1972, he recorded
Tom Zé through Continental, followed by 1973's Todos os Olhos,
1976's Estudando o Samba, and 1977's Correio da Estação
do Brás, all for the same label. In 1974, he gave a concert with
the band Capote, in São Paulo. In 1975, he worked on the Brazilian
staging of The Rocky Horror Picture Show as an actor. In 1976, he toured
the university circuit with Vicente Barreto. In 1984, he went to RGE,
where he released Nave Maria, and Continental re-released his 1972's Tom
Zé as Se o Caso é Chorar. In all this time, he continued
to make sporadic appearances, but was still almost completely ignored
by the masses due to his unusual approach in music with plenty of irony,
erudite music references, and the utilization of self-made instruments.
Zé was so depressed that he decided to return to his small home
town to work at his nephew's gas station. In 1989 while visiting Brazil,
David Byrne found a used exemplar of Estudando o Samba, which he took
as a didactic work. When he listened the album, he was immediately taken
by Zé's sound and called Arto Lindsay, who gave him what information
he had about Zé. When a Brazilian journalist from a renowned newspaper
interviewed Byrne, he saw a note on his desk, "When in Brazil, look
for Tom Zé." He reported that and Zé was alerted. Radiant,
he phoned Caetano for more info and Caetano replied that it shouldn't
be about him, but about Tuzé de Abreu, Byrne's friend. The fact
yielded some reserves by Zé in interviews. Byrne then took Zé
as the first artist of his label Luaka Bop. His releases there would get
favorable reviews in The New York Times, the Village Voice, Rolling Stone,
Billboard, Le Monde, and win the Creativity Award in Telluride, CO. In
1991, his album The Best of Tom Zé was appointed by vote the third
best album by critics and fourth by the readers of Downbeat. In 1992,
he recorded The Hips of Tradition (Luaka Bop), participating in the Zurich
Jazz Festival in Switzerland. He then departed for a successful series
of tours in Europe and the U.S. He is the first and only Brazilian musician
to be presented at New York's MoMa (1993), and the first and only Latin
American composer to be presented at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.
He also opened a concert at the Lift -- London International Festival
of Theatre, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. He performed concerts and festivals
in Canada (Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Saskatoon) and New York and
in August, as part of 20th Century Artist and at Summerstage, Central
Park. In 1994, he worked on the film Sábado (Ugo Giorgetti) and
toured through Amsterdam, Berlin, Switzerland, and France. In 1995 and
1996, he toured the biggest capitals of Brazil. In the same year, he wrote
(together with José Miguel Wisnik) the "Parabelo" soundtrack
for Grupo Corpo (a modern ballet company), which brought them the APCA
award.
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