Tom Zé

See all 33 pictures

Play Radio

Listen to Tom Zé Radio, featuring artists like Jards Macalé, Caetano Veloso, Novos Baianos, Tom Zé e Fernanda Takai and more…

• 
  Search on Spotify

  Yes, it scrobbles! Learn more

1,746,721 plays (127,666 listeners)
In your library (0 plays)

Shop now at Amazon | Send Tom Zé Ringtones to Cell

More options

• Download
• Amazon
• Send Ringtones to Cell
• Tonefuse Search

Add to my Library

Irará, Bahia, Brazil (October 11, 1936 – present)

Born Antônio José Santana Martins, October 11, 1936 in Irará, Bahia, Brazil, Zé is a representative of Brazil’s alternative sound, not only because of his use of objects as instruments, but also for his attitudes and for his eccentric, vivid style. Influential in the Tropicalia movement, Zé contributed — along with Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Os Mutantes, and Nara Leão — to the watershed tropicalia album/manifesto Tropicália: Ou Panis Et Circenses. While the other major figures of tropicalia would go on to great commercial and critical success in later decades, Zé slipped into obscurity in the 1970s and 1980s.

Remaining true to the experimental and dada impulses of tropicalia, Zé has been noted for both his unorthodox approach to melody and instrumentation, employing unique instruments such as a typewriter. He has collaborated with many of the concrete poets of São Paulo, including Augusto de Campos, and employed concrete techniques in his lyrics. Musically, his work appropriates samba, bossa nova, Brazilian folk music, forró, and American rock and roll, among others. He has been praised by avant-garde composers for his use of dissonance, polytonality, and unusual time signatures.

In the early 1990s, Zé’s work experienced a revival when American musician David Byrne discovered one of his albums, Estudando o samba (1975), on a visit to Rio de Janeiro. Byrne went on to release a compilation of Zé’s material as well as two full-length albums of new songs on his Luaka Bop label. A guitar riff from Zé’s song Jimmy, Renda-Se is sampled on R&B singer Amerie’s song Take Control.

Read more… Edit

Popular tags: tropicalia, mpb, brazilian, experimental, brasil  See more

Shouts: 272 shouts

Share this artist:

• Send
• Tweet

Top Albums

• Estudando o samba
  Tom Zé

  Buy

  • Download Album
  • Amazon MP3 Search
  • 7digital Search
  • iTunes Search
  • Buy Album
  • Amazon Search
  • eBay Search
• O Melhor De Tom Zé
  Tom Zé

  Buy

  • Download Album
  • Amazon MP3 Search
  • 7digital Search
  • iTunes Search
  • Buy Album
  • Amazon Search
  • eBay Search
• Todos os Olhos
  Tom Zé

  Buy

  • Download Album
  • Amazon MP3 Search
  • 7digital Search
  • iTunes Search
  • Buy Album
  • Amazon Search
  • eBay Search
• Com Defeito de Fabricação
  Tom Zé

  Buy

  • Download Album
  • Amazon MP3 $8.99
  • 7digital $9.99
  • iTunes Search
  • Buy Album
  • Amazon Search
  • eBay Search

Top Tracks

• Last Week
• Last 6 months

1		A Felicidade			154
2		Cademar			138
3		Tô			127
4		Vai (Menina Amanhã De Manhã)			110
5		Toc			105
6		Mã			99
7		Hein?			94
8		Augusta, Angélica e Consolação			93
9		Mãe (Mãe Solteira)			85
10		Se			84
11		Ui! (Você Inventa)			82
12		O Riso e a Faca			77
13		Doi			73
13		Só (Solidão)			73
15		Índice			60

Buy all tracks at Amazon MP3

See more