Tom Zé

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Santana and the second or paternal family name is Martins.
Tom Zé
tropicália
Occupations
  • Multi-instrumentalist
  • singer-songwriter
  • composer
Years active1960s–present
Labels
Websitehttp://www.tomze.com.br/

Antônio José Santana Martins (born 11 October 1936), known professionally as Tom Zé (Portuguese pronunciation:

David Byrne
discovered Zé's 1975 album Estudando o Samba and then released reissues of his work, that Zé returned to performing and releasing new material.

Early life and career

Tom Zé grew up in the small town of Irará, Bahia in the dry sertão region of the country's Northeast. He would later claim that his hometown was "pre-Gutenbergian", as information was primarily transferred through oral communication. As a child, he was influenced by Brazilian musicians such as Luiz Gonzaga and Jackson do Pandeiro.[1] Zé became interested in music by listening to the radio, and moved to the state capital of Salvador to pursue a degree. He later relocated to São Paulo and began his career in popular music there.

Career

Much of his early work involved his wry impressions of the massive metropolitan area, coming as he did, from a small town in the relatively poor northeast.

Influential in the

Brazilian military government of the 1960s began to crack down on the musicians of Tropicália, Zé moved out of the public eye and began to experiment with novel instruments and composition styles.[2]
While the other major figures of Tropicália would go on to great commercial and critical success in later decades, Zé slipped into obscurity in the 1970s and 1980s.

Re-emergence

In the early 1990s, Zé's work experienced a revival when American musician

David Byrne discovered one of his albums, Estudando o Samba (1975), on a visit to Rio de Janeiro. Zé was the first artist signed to the Luaka Bop label and has so far released a compilation and two albums, all of which received positive reviews from critics in the United States.[1]

In 2011, he collaborated with Javelin on the song "Ogodô, Ano 2000" for the Red Hot Organization's most recent charitable album Red Hot+Rio 2. The album is a follow-up to the 1996 Red Hot + Rio. Proceeds from the sales will be donated to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS, HIV and related health and social issues.

Style

Remaining true to the

Bossa Nova, Brazilian folk music, forró, and American rock and roll, among others. He has been praised by avant-garde composers for his use of dissonance, polytonality, and unusual time signatures. Because of the experimental nature of many of his compositions, Zé has been compared with American musicians such as Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart.[4]

One of his last efforts, though, has been a return to Bossa Nova, his Estudando a Bossa – Nordeste Plaza. Says Zé: "That music has inhabited my psyche for 50 to 60 years. Familiar and profound, yet somehow extraterrestrial in my mind. It had to come out, to be dealt with."[5]

Discography

Studio albums and collaborations
  • 1968: Grande Liquidação
  • 1970: Tom Zé
  • 1972: Se o Caso É Chorar
  • 1973: Todos os Olhos
  • 1976: Estudando o Samba
  • 1978: Correio da Estação do Brás
  • 1984: Nave Maria
  • 1992: Brazil Classics, Vol. 5: The Hips of Tradition
  • 1997: Parabelo (with Zé Miguel Wisnik)
  • 1998: Com Defeito de Fabricação
  • 1999: Postmodern Platos
  • 2000: Jogos de Armar
  • 2002: Santagustin (with Gilberto Assis)
  • 2003: Imprensa Cantada
  • 2005: Estudando o Pagode – Na Opereta Segregamulher e Amor
  • 2006: Danç-Êh-Sá
  • 2008: Danç-Êh-Sá Ao Vivo (live)
  • 2008: Estudando a Bossa – Nordeste Plaza
  • 2009: O Pirulito Da Ciência – Tom Zé & Banda Ao Vivo
  • 2012: Tropicália Lixo Lógico
  • 2014: Vira Lata na Via Láctea
  • 2016: Canções Eróticas de Ninar
  • 2017: Sem Você Não A
  • 2022: Língua Brasileira
Compilations and box-sets
  • 1990:
    Brazil Classics, Vol. 4: The Best of Tom Zé - Massive Hits
  • 1999: 20 Preferidas
  • 2000: Série Dois Momentos (vols. 1, 2, and 15)
  • 2010: Studies of Tom Zé: Explaining Things So I Can Confuse You (box-set of "Brazil Classics, Vol. 4", "Estudando o Pagode", "Estudando A Bossa Nordeste Plaza" and live performances)

References

  1. ^
    All Media Guide
    . Retrieved 15 March 2008.
  2. ^ Stark, Jeff (26 May 1999). "The politics of plagiarism". Salon.com. Retrieved 15 March 2008.
  3. ^ Bahaina, Anna Maria (September 1992). "Tom Zé". Europe Jazz Network. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2008.
  4. ^ Kelly, Jennifer (10 March 2006). "An Encounter with Tropicalia's Trickster: The Tom Zé Interview". PopMatters. Retrieved 15 March 2008.
  5. ^ Williams, Kelvin Leander (2011). "ArtistInterviews: Tom Zé A Brazilian pop iconoclast".

Further reading

  • (in Italian) Mei, Giancarlo. Canto Latino: Origine, Evoluzione e Protagonisti della Musica Popolare del Brasile. 2004. Stampa Alternativa-Nuovi Equilibri. Preface by Sergio Bardotti and postface by Milton Nascimento.
  • Rollefson, J. Griffith (26 June 2007). "Tom Ze's Fabrication Defect and the "Esthetics of Plagiarism": a postmodern/postcolonial "Cannibalist Manifesto"". Popular Music and Society. 30 (3): 305–327.
    doi:10.1080/03007760600834853
    .
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