Album of the Day

“When I was only two or two and a half,” Gilberto Gil once recalled, “I told my mother I was going to become a musician or a president of my country,” and the Brazilian star's ongoing career includes long stints as both recording artist and politician. Gil's forward-thinking work as a performer features socially conscious lyrics and an ear for new sounds to blend with traditional ones, an approach he began in the 1960s as a pioneer of tropicalia and continued to explore on 2008's BANDA LARGA CORDEL. These 16 Portuguese-sung songs embrace contemporary technology as firmly as vintage  samba and bossa nova rhythms, and Gil's mellifluous voice illuminates such highlights as “Amor de Carnaval,” “Cano” and “Máquina de Ritmo.” As we mark its 10th anniversary, the Grammy-nominated BANDA LARGA CORDEL embodies the vitality of both Brazilian music and one of its greatest exponents.