09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Gilberto Gil Steps Away From the Stage, Vowing ‘My Music Will Continue'
Gilberto Gil had been living in exile for a month when he first saw Bob Dylan take the stage.
That was in August 1969, when Gil, who is now a revered international figure with a 60-year career behind him, had just turned 27. The military dictatorship in Brazil had 'invited' him to leave the country after an arrest on charges of 'inciting youth to rebel' during a show in Rio de Janeiro, among other accusations. Forced to flee, Gil chose London — a meeting point for musician and artist expats, with its vibrant cultural scene and artistic freedom — as his new home.
He arrived just in time for the Isle of Wight Festival and knew he couldn't miss his chance to see Dylan play his first show since a motorcycle accident had nearly taken his life.
'It's that passivity, almost,' Gil said in a recent interview. 'That calmness he has onstage, without many exuberant gestures. That's what I wanted to soak up and apply to my own performance.'
And through the years, whether his image was as an inciter of youth or an insightful philosopher, he did. Even as Gil stood onstage in São Paulo this April on his farewell tour, it was the eloquence of his words and the memories his music evoked that captivated 40,000 fans.
A chorus of voices accompanied Gil as he guided concertgoers through the many genres of his career — samba, baião, jazz, reggae, rock and international pop, among them. An innovator with a knack for preserving his country's classic styles while building on them, Gil has used both his music and his voice to help fellow Brazilians feel pride in where they come from and hope in where they're going. In addition to releasing dozens of albums, he has worked in politics since 1987 and served as Brazil's Minister of Culture from 2003 to 2008.
Gil, now 83, admits that it's time to slow down. He doesn't shy away from talk about aging: It's just another change in a life of metamorphosis. And the name he gave his final stadium tour — Tempo Rei (which translates to Time Is King), borrowed from his 1984 song about the passage of time, the brevity of life and the necessity of transformation — alludes to just that.
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