Caetano Veloso is one of the artists whose influence on Brazilian culture has been most felt for the past thirty years. Front-line singer and composer of MPB (Brazilian Popular Music), his importance transcends the musical ambit. A very sophisticated lyricist, he has a reputation of being a poet even among erudite men of letters. As an intellectual he has original and complex thoughts about art, culture, politics and behavior; about Brazil and its place in the world and in history. A good part of his ideas, stated in texts and declarations, is poetically found in his songs.

He was born in Santo Amaro da Purificação, Bahia, in 1942. He began his artistic career in Salvador when he participated in the show "Nós, por exemplo" (Us, for example), in 1964. In 1965 he moves to São Paulo, where he heads Tropicalismo (1967-68), a movement that did away with the frontiers between the old and the new, the national and the foreign in Brazilian popular music. The manifesto-songs "Alegria, alegria" (Happiness, happiness) and "Tropicália" date from this period. With the provocation of the authoritarian regime Caetano was arrested and sent into exile, along with his "comrade-brother" Gilberto Gil. He spent two years in London.

From the 70's onwards, growing admiration and success made him one of the most played and interpreted Brazilian song-writers. Little by little Caetano built up an opus of classics, within which are also "Sampa", "Um índio" (An indian), "Gente" (People), "Menino do Rio" (Boy from Rio), "O leãozinho" (The little lion), "Língua" (Tongue), "Fora de ordem" (Out of order) and "Haiti".

A refined singer and eclectic composer, Caetano, a son of the bossa nova, has passed through samba to tango, pop to rock, repente (a type of music with improvised lyrics common in Northern Brazil) to rap, bolero to reggae. In his records and shows he naturally joins together the beautiful and the new, the cult and the popular, the simple and the intellectual. He's made a film "O cinema falado" (Spoken cinema), and is now preparing a book containing thoughts on the 60's.