Those Caetano Veloso albums he made in exile
Sooks
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S/T (fur coat cover) and 'Transa' - my understanding is that he was exiled at the time and had to make these albums in London. So why did these albums get Brazillian presses? Did they come out after his exile was over?
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From what I gather Alberto Pittigliani was the key figure in the record label Sinter transforming into Companhia Brasileira de Discos (CBD). Which he later sold to an international parent company Philips Records. Caetano's 1966 recording contract would probably extend to being able to publish records with that label in other countries regardless of him being exiled in Brazil. Since Philips was already an international label that pressed records in London under British Decca. According to their Wikipedia they also had recording contracts with Maria Bethania, Chico Buarque, Gal Costa, and Raul Seixas.
- spidey
those records were subjected to the same censorship board everything else was subjected to, I think that was enough for the dictatorship. The military didn't necessarily exile people, but those who knew they were in danger left the country before anything happened to them, while others went underground.
They went easy on Caetano, Gil, Chico Buarque and other musicians because of their prominence. In a sense, they could get away with some things because their fame gave them some protection. The military always denied that they were torturing and killing activists, so doing something extreme to someone like Caetano Veloso would obviously blow that lie wide open. Even while they were imprisoned, Caetano and Gil weren't tortured like others in the same jail.
b/w
I read a quote from Caetano Veloso where he complains that the cover for Transa looks like a lampshade.
From all of the sources that I've read on this subject, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil weren't so much forced to exile. However, they were strongly recommended after being jailed which means they probably would've faced more jail time if they disagreed. They agreed to leave the country, and were allowed to take their significant others with them.
The whole exile concept was basically a political statement to the young people of Brazil that were political dissenters that the Brazilian government had the power to make them leave the country if they decided to speak out. The Os Mutantes who were much younger faced no criminal charges and decided to stay in Brazil. It's interesting to me that Caetano and Gilberto stayed in Brasil, and eventually Sergio decided to fully become an American citizen (oddly enough I was actually with him and his family).
Caetano Veloso has always felt strongly about freedom of expression in art, and he was brave enough to speak out about the injustice of the dictatorship. His exile was entirely unfair, and unnecessary and you can feel that he was not happy with the decision. Whereas Gilberto Gil treated it like a 2 year vacation, and much later became Brazil's Minister of Culture.
I'm fascinated about this topic, and I heard somewhere out there is a jam with Caetano, Gilberto Gil and Hawkwind that I would love to hear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvsAOZv-QYY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weD21-e-cbs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQiVQJvuVYM
- spidey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2Q0Fg2o9Q4
- Damo