Caetano Veloso: Brazil's John Lennon rocks out

I first became aware of Caetano Veloso a few years ago when watching "Talk to Her," Pedro Almovadar's film about, well, that would take awhile to explain. Anyway, at one point in the film, there's a scene of a party with a singer singing a song called "Cucurcu." A gray-haired man sings this evocation of a bird in a lovely tenor voice.

Asking friends who know Brazilian music, I found out that he is a major figure down there and bought a 2 CD compilation of his stuff. As can be the case with compilations, I came away with no firm impression of him. However, when I saw that he was coming to Boston, I decided to go see him.

His November 2 appearance at the Orpheum was remarkable. The place was packed, seemingly 90% with Brazilians from the metro area's large and growing Brasilero community. A Brazilian woman behind me explained to her American born friend that Veloso is bigger in Brazil than John Lennon or Bob Dylan, and that people still not only play his hits from the '60s, but quote them as well. Lest you think, hey that's true of Dylan, too, she was clear that not only middle-aged people, but young people, too, worship Veloso. (I have noticed that Brazilian, and possibly Latin music in general, has a much stronger intergenerational thing going than rock or other pop forms here.)

Nonetheless, I was taken aback by the concert. Veloso came out in jeans, running shoes and a faded polo shirt with a jean jacket over it. Short gray hair, glasses (okay, when's the last time you saw a pop star wearing glasses?), mid-60s. He's a slight man, and was a veritable sprite on stage -- pogoing around, gesturing a la Motown. The set was drenched in rock, as is his latest album, Ce. But they never relied on volume to achieve their ends -- they had classic Brazilian sense of dynamics and rhythm.

He threw in some older stuff (not enough for much of the audience, I heard later), too. Most of the songs were in Portugese, so I can't speak to the lyrics. Brazilian lyrics are often wonderfully adult and I'm assuming the same, partly based on the one English song he did sing. He talked for awhile about his past and role (he acknowledged he yaks a lot on stage) and I read his website. It's filled with essay after essay that would easily score an A in a grad school lit class. The man is thoughtful, literate and makes wonderful music.

What most struck me is that suddenly I was the alien from Mars who had landed on Earth and found myself in the middle of something that seemed wonderful if not fully comprehensible. It reminds me once again that America's cultural weight sometimes prevents us from experiencing alternative visions that are equally compelling. Brazil and Cuba are the two most obvious in our own neck of the woods.