Gilberto Gil, recently named as Brazil's minister of culture, has always trodden a very individual path in Brazilian music. But even by his own standards, this is an unusual work. The Zumbi of the title is a Brazilian hero. He founded Palmares Quilombo, a place in Brazil where escaped and freed slaves could live as they had in Africa. Until closed by the Portuguese, Palmares Quilombo lasted almost 100 years. Z is a celebration of the man, conceived as a ballet, celebrating the 300th anniversary of Zumbi. The music here is actually a collaboration between
Gil, the great songwriter and musician
Carlinhos Brown, and Rodolfo Stroter, who was musical director for the project (however, the album appears under
Gil's name). While
Gil had some musical themes prior to the sessions -- a grand total of three days was allowed to record the music -- much was created in the studio. There's a definite air of spontaneity about tracks like "Chamada" and "Oracao," with a very apt Afro-Brazilian tone underlying everything, although the harmonies and melodies laid on top often sound distinctly modern.
Gil's vocals -- he essentially plays the part of a "primitive leader" on the disc -- were improvised throughout, although by now he's a consummate enough performer that it's frequently hard to tell they were thoroughly rehearsed beforehand.
Gil takes center stage, but
Brown is all very much in evidence, singing and playing some remarkable percussion. An odd outing, more for
Gil completists than any casual fan.