The JoM Tube

July 2005 Gilberto Gil is one of the most popular musicians in Brazil. Born in 1944, Gil grew up with music, but also with political oppression. He soon gained a reputation in the 1960s as a activist against the far-right establishment, using music as a last form of dissent. In the end, he found hmself exiled by the government, and though he mixed with pop giants in London during the 1970s such as Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix, it was of course with Brazil that his heart really lay. Since the first electoral victory of a left-wing Brazilian party for the first time in forty years last year, Gil's enduring popularity among his countrymen has earned him a place in government, as Minister of Culture. In this heart-warming film, Gil, now 61, speaks frankly about the difficult years in his life, the people he has met along the way, his attitude towards Brazilian politics and activism, and his feelings about the apparent disparity between his once anti-establishment opinions and his position in government today. Produced by SBS/Dateline Distributed by Journeyman Pictures