Grammy Award winner composer, singer Gilberto Gil is coming to Los Angeles

Gilberto Gil (center), Bem Gil (left) and Jacques Morelenbaum will perform at UCLA.

Brazilian Nites Productions is presenting the Grammy Award winning king of Brazilian music, Gilberto Gil in a performance of sumptuous, acoustic interpretations of his most popular hit songs in Gilberto Gil: The String Concert at UCLA’s Royce Hall, March 20th at 8PM.

Joined by his son Bem Gil on guitars and the critically acclaimed cellist, producer and conductor Jacques Morelenbaum, (who has performed with such luminaries as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and David Byrne), Gil performs newly imagined versions of works spanning his esteemed musical career of more than four decades (see video of the trio below).

“He played delicate bossa novas, strummed rockers and intricate sambas; he crooned, whispered and whooped, equally at home in the fast patter of a samba or the courvaceous contours of a ballad. Mr. Gil didn’t trumpet his virtuosity. It was offered genially, like his melodies and his undidactic thoughts on love, poetic license and mortality.” – NY Times

This one night only, historic LA engagement of the world tour will feature beloved songs from his 40 year songbook, performed acoustically with sonorous cello and guitars and no percussion but the slapping of guitar strings.

As "one of the world's great songwriters” (The New York Times), Gilberto Gil has developed one of the most relevant and renowned careers as a singer, composer and guitar-player in both world and pop music. He caught the world’s attention with bossa nova in the 1950’s, then introduced the Tropicalism genre combining elements from American rock and funk and Caribbean reggae with traditional Brazilian rhythms and jazz harmonies alongside Caetano Veloso. Radically innovative in the music scene, the movement was deeply critical on political and moral levels, and Tropicalism was repressed by the authoritarian political regime and Gil and Caetano were imprisoned and exiled. Gil was an outspoken political cultural leader and at great personal risk criticized Brazil's ruling military junta that came to power in 1964, leading to his imprisonment and exile. He inspired an entire generation of political opposition and secured his fame internationally as well as at home in Brazil.

His extensive and prolific catalogue of work has been covered and recorded by Joao Gilberto, Elis Regina, Gal Costa, Sergio Mendes, Ernie Watts, and Toots Thielmans. Gilberto Gil carries out a fundamental role in the constant modernization process of Brazilian popular music via his political and environmental activism as both a musician and a diplomat as minister of culture for Brazil, a post which he has held since 2002. Spearheading this scene for more than 40 years, Gil has had over 30 albums released abroad since 1978, the year of his successful performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, in Switzerland, recorded live. Gil has six gold records, four platinum singles and five million records sold. Every year he tours Europe, North America, Latin America and Japan with his contagious pop music spoken in Portuguese-Brazilian. His music contains a strong rhythmic appeal and melodic richness, as richly textured as its people.

“There is no equivalent to Gilberto Gil in the English speaking world. If you could find someone who mixed the politics of Nelson Mandela, the poetry of Bob Dylan, and was as popular as the Beatles, you still wouldn't be close.” – London Jazz

Rhythms from the northeast of Brazil like the baiao, apart from samba and bossa-nova were fundamental in his formation. Using them as a starting point, Gil forged his own music in which he incorporated rock, reggae, funk and rhythms from Bahia such as afoxe. Gil has tackled a wide variety of issues in his lyrics, pertinent to modern reality: from social inequality to racism; from African to Asian culture; from science to religion, among others. The mastership with which Gil explores these subjects makes him one of the greatest Brazilian composer-lyricists.

For his unflinching creative engagement in bringing to the world the heart and soul of the rich music of Brazil, Gilberto Gil has been honored by several entities and personalities as a unique musical ambassador powered by firm cultural conviction. He has also received many prizes in Brazil and abroad as The Polar Prize in 2005.

Gilberto Gil: The String Concert is for all ages. Tickets are $78, $55, $45, $35; $17 student tickets are also available. To purchase tickets and for discount information, call (310) 825-2101 or visit http://www.braziliannites.com/

Royce Hall is located at 340 Royce Drive on the Campus of UCLA. Parking on site available for a fee. Click here for more info.