Jorge Ben Jor first began to experiment with fusions of samba, bossa nova, rhythm & blues and soul in the early 1960s. Together with Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, he participated in Brazil's watershed cultural movement, Tropicália, in the late 1960s. In the 1970s, he further explored Afro-Brazilian history and culture in a series of popular albums that have since become key points of reference for a contemporary neo-soul movement. Ben Jor continues to be an active presence in Brazilian popular music. He grants us a rare interview to tell his story. The program is produced by Sean Barlow and coproduced with Christopher Dunn, author of Brutality Garden: Tropicália and the Emergence of A Brazilian Counterculture (University of North Carolina Press, 2001) as part of Afropop Worldwide’s Hip Deep series.
