Without question one of my favourite styles of music is tropicália. Without it I wouldn’t be able to freak out to the sounds of Os Mutantes, bask in the glory of Caetano Veloso’s words, groove to Gilberto Gil and generally sit in astonishment at the sheer unbridled joy of Rogerio Duprat’s arrangements. With a covers compilation approaching this summer and a documentary in the works it seems as if a few people may well get to discover a little more about this music also.As I wrote on Sounds and Colours, artists such as Beirut, Dirty Projectors, Aloe Blacc, Money Mark and Caetano Veloso will be making an appearance on Red Hot + Rio 2, a compilation which will celebrate the music of tropicália through an international cast. The record will be released on 28th June, and its proceeds will go to the Red Hot Organisation and its work raising awareness of AIDS. A teaser for the compilation has already been released, a version of Caetano Veloso’s “O Leaozinho” which you can listen to HERE.

In addition to this, Bossa Nova Films are currently working on  a documentary, simply titled Tropicália. It will be the first documentary to completely focus on the style. The film will be produced by Paula Cosenza, directed by Marcelo Machado and has Fernando Meirelles as an executive producer. I spoke with Paula and Marcelo last year and will be publishing an interview with them on Sounds and Colours soon. At that point the film was set for release this year though no date has yet been set.

I have written a few pieces previously on tropicália, including A History of Tropicalia for Latineos and The Best Tropicalia Albums for Sounds and Colours.