Veloso is the fifth of the seven children born to José Telles Veloso ("Seu Zezinho") and Claudionor Vianna Telles Veloso ("Dona Canô"). His younger sister Maria Bethânia, another popular and renowned artist in Brazil, preceded him to fame as a singer in the mid-1960s. He began his career around 1965 singing bossa nova and he has cited his greatest musical influences from his early period as João Gilberto and Dorival Caymmi. (João Gilberto would say later about Caetano's contribution that it added an intellectual dimension to brazilian popular music.) But with such musical collaborators Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Tom Zé, Chico Buarque, and Os Mutantes, and greatly influenced by the later work of The Beatles, developed tropicalismo, which fused Brazilian pop with rock and roll and avant garde art music resulting in a more international, psychedelic, and socially aware sound. Veloso's politically active stance, unapologetically leftist, earned him the enmity of Brazil's military dictatorship which ruled until 1985; his songs were frequently censored, and some were banned. Veloso was also alienated from the socialist left in Brazil becasue of his acceptance and integration of non-nationalist influences (like rock and roll) in his music. Veloso and Gilberto Gil spent several months in jail for "anti-government activity" in 1968 and eventually exiled themselves to London. Caetano Veloso's work upon his return in 1972 was often characterized by frequent appropriations not only of international styles, but of half-forgotten Brazilian folkloric styles and rhythms as well. In particular, his celebration of the Afro-Brazilian culture of Bahia can be seen as the precursor of such Afro-centric groups as Timbalada.
In the 1980s, Veloso's popularity outside Brazil grew, especially in Israel, Portugal, France and Africa. By 2004, he was one of the most respected and prolific international pop stars, with more than fifty recordings available, including songs in soundtracks of movies such as Pedro Almodovar's Hable con Ella (Talk to Her), and Frida. In 2002 Veloso published an account of his early years and the Tropicalia movement, Tropical Truth: A Story of Music and Revolution in Brazil.
His first all-English CD was A Foreign Sound (2004), which covers Nirvana's "Come as You Are" and compositions from the Great American Songbook. Five of the six songs on his third eponymous album, released in 1971, were also in English.
Blues
Caetano Veloso Lyrics
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Azul no céu azul no mar
Azul no sangue à flor da pele
Os pés de lótus de Krishna
Tem muito azul em torno dela
Azul no céu azul no mar
Azul no sangue à flor da pele
Os pés da Índia e a mão da África
Os pés no céu e a mão no mar
These lyrics from Caetano Veloso's song "Blues in 2" evoke the image of the color blue surrounding two individuals: one described with the lotus feet of the Hindu deity Krishna, and the other with the rose hands of the Afro-Brazilian goddess Iemanjá. The repetition of the color blue in the sky, sea, and veins of these individuals points to the idea of blueness as a pervasive force in their lives, whether symbolically connected to the divine or grounded in the tangible reality of flesh and blood.
The second stanza continues this theme, emphasizing the cultural hybridity of the figures in question. They have "feet in India and hands in Africa," suggesting a blending of disparate traditions and histories. This combination of Eastern and Western traditions invokes the idea of syncretism, or the merging of different religious or cultural beliefs, which is a hallmark feature of many faiths in Brazil.
Overall, "Blues in 2" is a song that speaks to the interconnectedness of different spiritual and cultural traditions, and the complex ways in which these traditions can intersect and influence one another.
Line by Line Meaning
Tem muito azul em torno dele
There is a lot of blue around him.
Azul no céu azul no mar
Blue in the sky and blue in the sea.
Azul no sangue à flor da pele
Blue in the blood close to the surface of the skin.
Os pés de lótus de Krishna
The lotus feet of Krishna.
Tem muito azul em torno dela
There is a lot of blue around her.
Azul no céu azul no mar
Blue in the sky and blue in the sea.
Azul no sangue à flor da pele
Blue in the blood close to the surface of the skin.
As mãos de rosa de Iemanjá
The rose hands of Iemanjá.
Os pés da Índia e a mão da África
The feet of India and the hand of Africa.
Os pés no céu e a mão no mar
Feet in the sky and hand in the sea.
Contributed by Lincoln N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.