Caetano Veloso – Caetano Veloso

Title: Caetano Veloso - Caetano Veloso
Year/Genre/Sub-Genre/City: 1971, MPB, Folk Rock, Tropicália, Santo Amaro, Bahia, Brazil 9/26
Matrix #: SFM1002
Condition: New (TC) | Members: Caetano V (42' - ) | Producer: Lou Reizner, Ralph Mace
Cultural Facts:

1. Exiled From Brazil: Caetano and Gilberto Gil were arrested by Brazil's military dictatorship in 1968, jailed and eventually forced into exile. Caetano landed in London deeply homesick, and later described this album as a “document of depression” from a period when he desperately wanted to return home.
2. Exile Made Him a Guitarist: This was the first album on which Caetano played acoustic guitar himself. He initially wanted a more accomplished musician to play his parts, but his English producers insisted that the imperfections in his style were part of the charm. Caetano later said that without being exiled, he might never have played guitar on one of his records.
3. Song to His Sister: “Maria Bethânia” was written for Caetano's younger sister, who had become a major Brazilian singer in her own right. Singing largely in English while stranded thousands of miles from Brazil, Caetano turned her name into a repeated refrain and a deeply personal connection to the family and country he had been forced to leave.