Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo, which encompassed theatre, poetry and music in the 1960s, at the beginning of the Brazilian military dictatorship that took power in 1964. He has remained a constant creative influence and best-selling performing artist and composer ever since. Veloso has won nine Latin Grammy Awards and two Grammy Awards. On 14 November, 2012, Veloso was honored as the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year.
Veloso in 2019
Veloso performs in Lisbon, Portugal in 2007.
Caetano Veloso at the III Popular Music Festival, 1967. National Archives of Brazil.
Tropicália, also known as tropicalismo, was a Brazilian artistic movement that arose in the late 1960s. It was characterized by the amalgamation of Brazilian genres—notably the union of the popular and the avant-garde, as well as the melding of Brazilian tradition and foreign traditions and styles. Today, tropicália is chiefly associated with the musical faction of the movement, which merged Brazilian and African rhythms with British and American psychedelia and pop rock. The movement also included works of film, theatre, and poetry.
Gilberto Gil Founding Member of the Movement
Carmen Miranda in 1950
Tom Zé in São Paulo in 2007
Caetano Veloso performing at the third Popular Music Festival, October 21, 1967. Brazilian National Archives.