Doces Bárbaros

• Formed: 1976
• Disbanded: 1994
• Genres: World

Biography

On June 24, 1976, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Maria Bethânia, and Gal Costa opened the show Doces Bárbaros at the Anhembi Stadium in São Paulo. With all box-office records broken in the first four performances there, they departed for a highly successful tour through Campinas (São Paulo), Curitiba (Paraná), Florianópolis (Santa Catarina), and Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul). Notwithstanding, on July 7th all artists and members of the band were searched by the police, when Gilberto Gil was found to be in possession of a small amount of marijuana, being arrested immediately in Florianópolis. The show that night, was done even if charged with evident anguish on the part of the artists. Gil was convicted to one year of imprisonment, eventually changed to an equal time of internship at the Sanatório Botafogo (Rio de Janeiro). The show in Porto Alegre, at the Gigantinho Stadium, was canceled, and the group returned to Rio, where they did a two-month season at the Canecão, breaking the house's box-office records with the release of the live-recorded LP Doces Bárbaros Ao Vivo. In 1994, the Doces Bárbaros teamed up again in a tribute paid by the Mangueira samba school, commemorating the group's 18 years of formation, with the show Doces Bárbaros na Mangueira. In that same year, the samba school paraded at the annual Carnaval contest with the samba-enredo "Atrás da Verde-e-Rosa Só Não Vai Quem Já Morreu" (making reference to Caetano Veloso's "Atrás do Trio Elétrico"), and Veloso, Gil, Costa, and Bethânia paraded in one of the sightly decorated vehicles (carro alegórico). On June 1st, the group performed again at the Royal Albert Hall, London, with the drum section of Mangueira. ~ Alvaro Neder, All Music Guide