Rio de Janeiro, November 11 (EFE). Famous singer, composer and former Culture Minister Gilberto Gil, 79 and one of the main representatives of the tropical movement and Brazilian popular music, was elected Thursday as the new member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL).
Gil won, by 21 votes, the poet Salgado Maranhão (7 votes) and the writer Ricardo Daupt (without votes), who also aspired to the position, in an election today held by academics at the headquarters of the entity that combines the so-called “immortals” of Brazilian letters , in Rio de Janeiro.
The singer-songwriter, who served as Minister of Culture between 2003 and 2008 in the government of Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, is known internationally for songs such as “Aquele Abraço”, “Calice”, “Refazenda”, “Domingo no Parque” and “Novidad” Seat number 20 in the Academy belongs to journalist Murillo Mello Filho, who died last May.
The singer, who also plays various instruments, is a music producer and has sold nearly 4 million copies of his nearly 60 albums, won nine Grammy Awards and in 1999 was called an Artist for Peace by UNESCO.
He was also appointed in 2001 as the United Nations Ambassador for Food and Agriculture.
His major works were collected in the book “All as Letters” (1996), which was considered as a writer by the Academy of Letters.
“Gilberto Gil translates the dialogue between scientific culture and popular culture. A poet from deep and cosmopolitan Brazil. He cares about all the requests and demands of our people. We welcome him with affection and joy,” said the president of the ABL Association, Marco Lucci after the vote result was announced.
The singer-songwriter should take office in March of next year, when the Academy resumes meetings.
Last week, devoted actress Fernanda Montenegro, 92, known as the “first lady of the Brazilian theater” and who was the first South American to be nominated for an Academy Award as Best Leading Actress, was named a new member of the Academy. of letters.
Among the 294 “immortals” who held 40 chairs at the Brazilian Academy of Letters, writers such as Jorge Amado, Machado de Assis, Nelida Peñón, Paulo Coelho, Joao Guimaraes Rosa, as well as former Brazilian presidents José Sarney and Fernando Henrique Cardoso stood out. EFE
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