About Os Mutantes

Os Mutantes .mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-smallBrazilian Portuguese: , The Mutants) are an influential Brazilian rock band that were linked with the Tropicália movement, a dissident musical movement during the Brazilian dictatorship of the late 1960s. The band is considered to be one of the main groups of Brazilian rock. Heavily influenced by Anglo-American psychedelic pop, they bridged Brazilian sensibilities together with studio trickery, feedback, distortion, and musique concrète. They released their now-acclaimed self-titled debut album in 1968.

Os Mutantes debuted their work in 1966, as a trio, when they presented themselves in the program O Pequeno Mundo de Ronnie Von of TV Record. The group was christened Mutantes by Ronnie Von himself, right before their first TV appearance. The group until then called themselves Os Bruxos and the suggestion came from the book Emperor of the Mutants, by Stefan Wul . The group quickly became one of the main figures of the "new MPB" , influenced by Tropicália, until their breakup in 1978, only with Sérgio Dias as an original member. Throughout these twelve years, nine albums were recorded, although two of them – O A e o Z and Tecnicolor – were only released in the 1990s. It was during this later decade that the importance of Os Mutantes was recognized, by both national and international rock, as one of the most creative dynamic, radical and talented groups of the psychedelic era.

Although the original line-up made the most notable breakthrough for the group, it has gone through numerous personnel changes throughout its existence. After a hiatus from the late 1970s to the early 2000s, the band reunited in 2006, touring and recording new material.

Os Mutantes was formed in São Paulo in 1966 by two brothers: Arnaldo Baptista and Sérgio Dias Baptista , and lead singer Rita Lee. They were originally named Six Sided Rockers. The Baptistas' father was a poet and mother a pianist, and the two had previously had an all-male band called The Wooden Faces, while Lee was in an all-female band called The Teenage Singers. Sérgio Dias' guitar, the Golden Guitar , was created by Arnaldo and Sérgio's brother, Cláudio César Dias Baptista, who built many of their instruments and electronic effects. Their current name was settled upon immediately before a performance on a Brazilian television program.

Through other TV performances, the band was able to meet Gilberto Gil, an influential musician in the Tropicália movement, who brought them into the movement's circle. Os Mutantes released two albums heavily influenced by Tropicália, which blended psychedelic rock with other forms of art. They performed and recorded with many artists of this period, including Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, before Veloso and Gil were arrested and subsequently exiled by the military government of Brazil in early 1969. During this period, Os Mutantes were also threatened by the military government of Brazil of that time.

In 1967, Os Mutantes backed Gilberto Gil when he competed in the third annual Festival of Brazilian Popular Music, making Brazilian music history by being one of the first two rock groups to participate, and Gil won second prize in the song competition with his song "Domingo no Parque" . Gil's friend Caetano Veloso also performed with a rock group, São Paulo band Beat Boys, and although his unorthodox performance met with some initial resistance, he eventually won over the crowd with his song "Alegria, Alegria", which was awarded fourth place in the competition. The next year Os Mutantes collaborated with Gilberto Gil on his second solo album, and they also contributed to the manifesto work of the Tropicália movement, the landmark 1968 album Tropicália: ou Panis et Circencis a collaborative album recorded by all the major figures in the movement, including Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gll, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, and Tom Zé, with orchestrations by Rogerio Duprat and lyrical contributions from Torquato Neto.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Os Mutantes", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.