(UERJ - 2008) Observe the fragment:MEET THE BRAZIL
(UERJ - 2008) Observe the fragment:
MEET THE BRAZILIAN BEATLES (AGAIN)
Os Mutantes, magical tropicalistas, back to blow your mind.
1In this era of nationally televised talent shows and test-tube-baby bands, magic is surely lacking in pop. Yet Sérgio Dias, 55, guitarist and founding member of influential Brazilian ensemble Os Mutantes, uses that word - "magic" - repeatedly, apropos of the group's decision to re-form after three decades.
An air of the unexpected always surrounded Os Mutantes. In the late 60's, the band - Dias, brother Arnaldo Baptista, and Rita Lee - were seminal figures in the Tropicalia movement. Os Mutantes fused psychedelic rock with elements of bossa nova, and the mere use of electric guitars found them branded heretics at home; 2the inclusion of such oddities as a can of aerosol bug spray for percussion on their eponymous 1968 debut intensified their aura of weirdness. 3But that experimental spirit ensured their place in history, with Beck, David Byrne and Kurt Cobain ranking among their fans.
Such endorsements were not lost on Dias, who has continued playing solo since Os Mutantes' final dissolution in 1978. "When you see the people who shape opinions, 4listening to music that you made 30 years ago, and praising it, that is when you know the music doesn't really belong to you. It has a life of its own". As to Os Mutantes' sustained popularity, he attributes it primarily to their youthful exuberance, and "the freedom that we had, the freshness of not being held by any preconceived ideas or A-B-A music forms. We were very, very free... and we still are".
In 2006, Os Mutantes performed live for the first time since 1973, at the Barbican in London, as part of a Tropicalia retrospective. Yet, according to Dias, at first he and Baptista were as surprised as anyone else to hear of Os Mutantes' involvement. "Suddenly I started to receive news from the theater administrator that I was going to play again in London", he recalls.
Initially, the brothers denied the rumors. But then they began to consider the possibility, and roped original Os Mutantes drummer Ronaldo "Dinho" Leme into the discussion. "Dinho is a very serious, down-to-earth person", insists Dias. 5"When he said, 'if they want us to play, I can play', I knew this was the real thing".
Dias attributes heightened excitement within the group to new addition Zélia Duncan. "When we restarted Os Mutantes, we were thinking of a girl", says Dias. The guitarist remembered Duncan, whom he'd met and immediately liked when both of them were participating in a mutual friend's recording project. "I thought of Zélia, and I told the guys. And they said, 'Wow... but her voice is so different.' But the most important thing in a band is not the quality of the voice, in terms of texture, but the interaction between the people. Zélia is so strong and alive. When she got into the rehearsals, and started to sing, the energy of the band doubled".
That electricity manifested itself at the Barbican and, one hopes, will continue through the band's handful of U.S. summer dates. A DVD and CD of that show are currently in production. And that may be only the beginning of a new era for Os Mutantes.
KURT B. REIGHLEY. Available in: www.thestranger.com
"When HE said, 'if THEY want..." (ref. 5). The pronouns in capital letters refer, respectively, to:
