Tom Zé

by Alvaro Neder
Tom Zé began his career together with Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, and Maria Bethânia. As a composer, he influenced Caetano and many others and delivered an expressive body of work through his own discography. A restless thinker, he was adept at modern erudite music experimentations, yet he was always ignored by both industry and audiences until he was discovered by David Byrne. He can be better understood through his self-coined definition: I dont make art, I make spoken and sung journalism.
 
Zé was born in the Bahia hinterlands. The stronger musical references of his childhood were the cocos by Jackson do Pandeiro, the forros by Luiz Gonzaga, the local folklore, washerwomans sambas de roda, and violeiros cantigas, together with the mass idols broadcast by the omnipresent Rádio Nacional (only after 1949, when electricity arrived there). In 1951, he was already in Salvador. A bad student, he discovered a great inspiration in the arid Os Sertões (Euclides da Cunha), the coverage of the battle of Canudos that brought a detailed description of him and his Northeastern peers. Later, he joined the CPC, a popular culture center that acted as cultural resistance organizations during the military dictatorship, researched folklore, and producing culture based on the findings. After some partnerships with the poet José Carlos Capinam for folkloric dances like bumba-meu-boi and chegança, he was criticized by CPC members as he was becoming repetitive. He hadnt accepted the criticism (folklore is always the same), but he enrolled at the Music College of Bahia. After a basic course to learn the rudiments of written music, he studied with such luminaries as H.J. Koellreuter (music history), Piero Bastianelli, Walter Smetak (violoncello), Aida Zolinger (piano), Edy Cajueiro (violão), Ernest Widmer (composition), Yulo Brandão (counterpoint), Jamari Oliveira (harmony), Lindembergue Cardoso (instrumentation), and Sérgio Magnani (orchestration).
 
In 1963, he became acquainted with Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso in Salvador, where actress Maria Muniz promoted weekly musical get-togethers, also frequented by musicians and young artists such as Fernando Lona, Alcyvando Luz, Orlando Senna, Maria Lígia, and Álvaro Guimarães. On September 7, 1964, Zé had his opening night a the musical directed by Caetano Veloso (Nós por Exemplo No. 2), with Caetano, Gil, Gal Costa, Maria Bethânia, Alcyvando Luz, Perna Fróes (still known as Antônio Renato), and percussionist Djalma Corrèa. Soon, he joined the other Baianos in the Nova Bossa Velha — Velha Bossa Nova Show and in 1965, in the musical Arena Conta Bahia, which included his composition (with Chico de Assis), O Cachorro do Inglês. The musical was such a success that Caetano, Gil, Gil, Bethânia, and Zé were invited to record their singles through RCA. Then, in the same year, Zé debuted in the record business with his single Maria do Colégio da Bahia. His Parque Industrial was recorded on the album/manifesto Tropicália, and he recorded his first LP Tom Zé (Rozemblit). His São Paulo, meu Amor won first place at TV Records IV FMPB (São Paulo), and got fourth place and the Best Lyrics award at the same festival with 2001 (with Rita Lee).
 
In 1969, he performed in Rio and São Paulo with Gal Costa in the show O Som Livre de Tom Zé e Gal Costa. In 1970, he recorded Tom Zé through RGE. The next year, he opened a music course in São Paulo, Sofist Balacobaco — muito som e pouco papo. In 1972, he recorded Tom Zé through Continental, followed by 1973s Todos os Olhos, 1976s Estudando o Samba, and 1977s Correio da Estação do Brás, all for the same label. In 1974, he gave a concert with the band Capote, in São Paulo. In 1975, he worked on the Brazilian staging of The Rocky Horror Picture Show as an actor. In 1976, he toured the university circuit with Vicente Barreto. In 1984, he went to RGE, where he released Nave Maria, and Continental re-released his 1972s Tom Zé as Se o Caso é Chorar. In all this time, he continued to make sporadic appearances, but was still almost completely ignored by the masses due to his unusual approach in music with plenty of irony, erudite music references, and the utilization of self-made instruments. Zé was so depressed that he decided to return to his small home town to work at his nephews gas station. In 1989 while visiting Brazil, David Byrne found a used exemplar of Estudando o Samba, which he took as a didactic work. When he listened the album, he was immediately taken by Zés sound and called Arto Lindsay, who gave him what information he had about Zé. When a Brazilian journalist from a renowned newspaper interviewed Byrne, he saw a note on his desk, When in Brazil, look for Tom Zé. He reported that and Zé was alerted. Radiant, he phoned Caetano for more info and Caetano replied that it shouldnt be about him, but about Tuzé de Abreu, Byrnes friend. The fact yielded some reserves by Zé in interviews. Byrne then took Zé as the first artist of his label Luaka Bop. His releases there would get favorable reviews in The New York Times, the Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Le Monde, and win the Creativity Award in Telluride, CO. In 1991, his album The Best of Tom Zé was appointed by vote the third best album by critics and fourth by the readers of Downbeat. In 1992, he recorded The Hips of Tradition (Luaka Bop), participating in the Zurich Jazz Festival in Switzerland. He then departed for a successful series of tours in Europe and the U.S. He is the first and only Brazilian musician to be presented at New Yorks MoMa (1993), and the first and only Latin American composer to be presented at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. He also opened a concert at the Lift — London International Festival of Theatre, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. He performed concerts and festivals in Canada (Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Saskatoon) and New York and in August, as part of 20th Century Artist and at Summerstage, Central Park. In 1994, he worked on the film Sábado (Ugo Giorgetti) and toured through Amsterdam, Berlin, Switzerland, and France. In 1995 and 1996, he toured the biggest capitals of Brazil. In the same year, he wrote (together with José Miguel Wisnik) the Parabelo soundtrack for Grupo Corpo (a modern ballet company), which brought them the APCA award.