Tom Zé dada brasil

A film by Claude Santiago

Tom Zé / Dada Brasil strives to transcend the limits of the conventional concert film, music documentary and essay – in keeping with Tom Zé’s free-spirited, outlandish nature.

In 1967, Tom Zé created the Tropicalia movement along with Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil. The movement called for both a  ew aesthetic and a new Brazil at a time when the country was under the thumb of a military dictator.

In 1990, David Byrne played an instrumental role in troublemaker  om Zé’s comeback by producing several of his albums. Whimsical  and provocative, Zé’s music is impossible to classify. Though  rooted in the tradition of the northeast where he grew up, it’s been shaped by the hyper-urban environment of São Paulo where he lives.

Lyonel Kouro uses painting and a scratch technique on 35 mm film to create the visual universe permeating the film. In an interview with Rémy Kolpa Kopoul (Radio Nova’s renowned “connector”),  Tom Zé talks about women, Brazil and himself.