Gilberto Gil is one of the great stars of the MPB (Música Popular Brasileira), which covers all popular Brazilian music. The term was first heard in the 1930s and in the '60s a second trend evolved called Modern MPB or "tropicalismo". Tropicalismo developed in the face of oppression. When the military came to power in Brazil in 1964, they immediately started to censure songs' lyrics. Musicians suspected of opposing the regime, were prosecuted. This oppression gave young Brazilian musicians, with Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil in the vanguard, an enormous artistic impulse. All of a sudden, the songs not only covered the topics dancing, sex and love, but, in a subtle way to evade the censor, politics. In spite of this subtlety, Gil had to go into exile in London in the early 1970s. His mix of various Brazilian styles with elements of rock was immensely popular even then. Later on, the influence of Jamaican reggae started playing an increasingly large role in Gil's songs. So, the Bob Marley Project that the Brazilian will be performing during this North Sea, did not come out of the blue. Gil has been carrying Marley in his heart for decades. And that fact promises a warm, emotional and above all swinging concert.
