Os Mutantes

成军于60年代晚期巴西圣保罗的Os Mutantes，当时团员包括的Rita Lee（女主唱兼打击乐器及若干管乐器）、Sergio Dias（吉他、贝斯兼主唱）与Arnaldo Baptista（键盘、贝斯兼主唱），进入70年代后，该团陆续加入Liminha（专职贝斯，也兼任部分主唱）及Dinho Leme（专职鼓手及打击乐器）。
 
其后几年团员陆续有所更替，他们的音乐就如其团名一般(The Mutants，突变体)，风格宛如天外飞来的新物种；无法被简单归类为哪种特定乐风，他们融合了牙买加Ska、英美迷幻摇滚，还有Soul / Compact Jazz / Easy-Listening 等元素，并且活用了Bossa Nova的轻快慵懒与巴西乐种独有的细碎节拍切分，72年Rita Lee离团后，他们更朝前卫摇滚的方向前进，Os Mutantes可说带给巴西乐坛如云霄飞车般无可比拟的刺激，也与当时如火如荼进行中的MPB (Musica Popular Brasileira)运动相辅相成地契合。
 
Os Mutantes与当时整个巴西音乐圈里的先锋人物，包括 Gilberto Gil、Caetano Veloso、Gal Costa等交往热络，并且在词曲创作与现场演出互相支持，为整个60~70年代的巴西流行音乐维新运动写下一页灿烂历史！
 
Os Mutantes乐团从68至76年间，出了九张专辑，不仅在巴西乐坛及拉丁乐界享有盛名，更对美国及欧洲的地下独立乐界产生跨世代的巨大影响，已故的Nivana主唱Kurt Cobain、Beck都曾公开推崇他们，更别提一路用心集结整理Os Mutantes作品，将其重新发行问世的Talking Heads主脑David Byrne！
 
2006年，在众所期盼下，Os Mutantes重组并展开巡回了，暌违了28年，这个巴西乐坛的超级组合再度站上舞台，第一站即是选在伦敦的Barbican Theatre，并由外貌及声音都极具个性美的Zélia Duncan担纲女主唱的位置，虽然没有炫丽的舞台及噱头，但由Zélia、Sergio、Arnaldo轮番担任主唱，精彩演绎该团经典&Cantor de Mambo& 、&Virginia& 、”&Le Premier Bonheur Du Jour&等曲，Sergio高强如Carlos Santana的吉他独奏；Arnaldo曼妙的键盘铺陈，繁复华丽的曲式令听者陷入疯狂！
 
by John Bush
Though rarely heard outside their Brazilian homeland (especially during their brief career), Os Mutantes were one of the most dynamic, talented, radical bands of the psychedelic era — quite an accomplishment during a period when most every rock band spent quality time exploring the outer limits of pop music. A trio of brash musical experimentalists, the group fiddled with distortion, feedback, musique concrète, and studio tricks of all kinds to create a lighthearted, playful version of extreme Brazilian pop.
 
The band was formed by the two Baptista brothers, Arnaldo (bass, keyboards) and Sérgio (guitar). In 1964, the pair (sons of a celebrated São Paulo concert pianist) formed a teenage band named the Wooden Faces. After they met Rita Lee, the three played together in the Six Sided Rockers before graduation broke up the band. Yet another name change (to O Conjunto) preceded the formation of Os Mutantes in 1965, the name coming from the science fiction novel O Planeta Dos Mutantes. With a third Baptista brother (Cláudio) helping out on electronics, the group played each week on a Brazilian TV show (O Pequeno Mundo de Ronnie Von) and became involved with the burgeoning tropicalia movement. Mutantes backed tropicalista hero Gilberto Gil at the third annual Festival of Brazilian Music in 1967, then appeared on the watershed 1968 LP Tropicalia: Ou Panis et Circenses, a compilation of songs from the movements major figures: Gil, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Tom Zé, and Nara Leão.
 
By the end of 1968, Os Mutantes delivered their self-titled debut, a raucous, entertaining mess of a record featuring long passages of environmental sounds, tape music, and tortured guitar lines no self-respecting engineer wouldve allowed in the mix (especially at such a high volume). After time spent backing Veloso and recording a second LP of similarly crazed psychedelic pop, the band ventured to France and Europe for a few music conference shows. Returning to Brazil, they set up their own multimedia extravaganza — complete with film, actors, dancing, and audience participation. Despite distractions of all kinds, the group also managed to record LPs in 1970 (Divina Comedia Ou Ando Meio Desligado) and 1971 (Jardim Eletrico), both of which charted the bands shifting interests from psychedelic to blues and hard rock.
 
After 1972s E Seus Cometas No Pais Do Baurets, Rita Lee departed or was fired from the band (accounts vary), and resumed a solo career that ran concurrently with Os Mutantes (her debut, 1970s Build Up, had been co-produced by the Baptistas). Later Mutantes LPs displayed influences from prog rock, and after Arnaldo Baptista left the fold as well, the bands LPs included a succession of bandmembers — later-to-be-legendary producer Liminha, keyboard player Túlio, and drummer Rui Motta. Except for a 1976 live record, 1974s Tudo Foi Feito Pelo Sol was the bands final LP. Sérgio later moved to America, where he played with Phil Manzanera, among others. After recording a 1974 solo album, Arnaldo played with a new band (Space Patrol) during the late 70s and spent time in a psychiatric hospital before emerging for his second solo work, 1982s Singin Alone. Meanwhile, though Rita Lees solo career began sputtering near the end of the 80s, the band turned down a request for a 1993 reunion show by Nirvanas Kurt Cobain. Six years later, the Omplatten label reissued the first three Mutantes records, and David Byrne assembled the Everything Is Possible compilation through Luaka Bop.