Lincoln Center Festival will present irrepressible Brazilian artist Tom Zé returns to New York after 12 years with "Studying Tom Zé," featuring songs from the celebrated series of albums Estudando o Samba, Estudando o Pagode, and most recently Estudando a Bossa. Eccentric and enigmatic, a typical Tom Zé show is part musical performance, part comedy, and part lecture on subjects ranging from the history of counterpoint to the pitfalls of globalization. In his words, "I don't make art; I make spoken and sung journalism."
Described by The New York Times as "one of Brazil's most idiosyncratic performers, a pop innovator who bypasses the ordinary," Tom Zé's appearance in the pop world seemed like a small miracle in the way it defied all expectations of what Brazilian music should sound like. Having come from two distinct, yet interconnected worlds-the traditional and the modern-much of Zé's artistic production over the past five decades is informed by the tension between two realities. He is a brash intellectual, simultaneously co-opting traditional forms and themes of Brazilian music, sometimes performing his compositions with self-invented instruments.Originally recorded in 1973, the first of Tom's "Studies" albums, Estudando o Samba is among the most influential albums of experimental pop in Brazil. Conceived as an extended study of various forms of samba with complex vocal and instrumental arrangements, Tom Zé's music reveals the quirky composer's unorthodox approach to melody and instrumentation, as well as his love for unresolved paradoxes in lyrics, such as "You invent love/I invent solitude," and "I'm explaining things to confuse you/I'm confusing you to clarify." Combining samba, Bossa Nova, Brazilian folk music, forró, and American rock and roll, Zé's unique sound has been praised by avant-garde composers for its dissonance, polytonality, and unusual time signatures. Because of the experimental nature of many of his compositions, Zé is often compared to Frank Zappa - both musicians are known for being wildly original, subversive, and unexpectedly important.Videos