The singer and songwriter Gilberto Gil takes office, this Friday (8), at the Academia Brasileira de Letras (ABL), in Rio de Janeiro.
The former Minister of Culture will occupy the 20th chair at the Academy. Gilberto Gil was elected with 21 of the 34 possible votes in November last year.
He will take the place of journalist Murilo Melo Filho who died in May 2021.
The previous occupants of seat 20 were Salvador de Mendonça, a lawyer and one of the founders of ABL, journalists Emílio de Meneses, Humberto de Campos and Múcio Leão and Army General Aurélio de Lyra Tavares.
For the president of ABL Marco Lucchesi, Gilberto Gil represents the union between erudite and popular culture. On the occasion of the singer’s election, Lucchesi cited a metaphor by the Brazilian sociologist, writer and politician Darcy Ribeiro to refer to the institution’s new immortal.
“For Darcy, the culture bird had two wings. One of them was erudite and the other popular. In order for the bird to be able to fly further, it needs both wings. Certainly, Gilberto Gil is that trait of union between erudite and popular culture”.
According to the president of ABL, Gil is an intellectual who thinks about Brazil.
“Sing and think about this country; tasted exile, at a very difficult time for the nation; held important positions, such as the Ministry of Culture. In short, he is a polyhedral man, who represents an essential part of these last years of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. Therefore, he is a man who has many traits of union: politics and poetry; 20th century and 21st century; tropicália and modernism. He is a figure of extreme wealth and, certainly, he is very welcome now as an academic, in the house of Machado de Assis”, said the academic.
In an interview with CNN last year, the poet, singer and songwriter Gilberto Gil stated that it is important for the Academia Brasileira de Letras (ABL) to have a black representative.
“The importance of black people for Brazilian civilization, for the formation of Brazilian civilization, is extraordinary. These moments, this welcoming of someone like me at the Academy, have that meaning too”.
The inauguration ceremony is scheduled for 9 pm, in the main hall of the academy’s headquarters, in downtown Rio.
the new academic
Gilberto Gil began his career on the accordion in the 1950s, inspired by Luiz Gonzaga, the sound of the radio and the sound of the Northeast.
With the rise of Bossa Nova, Gil started to play the guitar and, later, the electric guitar, present in his work until today.
In his first LP, Louvação, released in 1967, he translated into music, in a particular way, regional elements, as in the songs Louvação, Procissão, Roda and Viramundo.
In 1963, he started a partnership with Caetano Veloso and the Tropicália movement, which ended up internationalizing music, cinema, plastic arts, theater and Brazilian art.
The movement generated discontent in the military regime in force at the time, and the two partners ended up in exile. The exile in London contributed to the influence of the pop world in the work of Gil, who even recorded an album in London, with songs in Portuguese and English.
Upon returning to Brazil, Gil continued his rich phonographic production, which lasts until the present day. There are a total of almost 60 albums and around 4 million copies sold, having been awarded nine Grammys.
His multiple activities have been recognized by several nations, which have already named him, among others, Artist of Peace, by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), in 1999; Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); in addition to various decorations and awards, such as the Légion d’Honneur of France, Sweden’s Polar Music Prize, among others.
Source: CNN Brasil
