Quotes of the Day

Deep in Brazil's semi-arid interior, at the climax of a trip designed to show his cabinet the country's crushing poverty, newly elected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva mounted a makeshift stage and, like a lead singer introducing his band, presented his ministers to the crowd of 7,000. Polite applause greeted the parade of bureaucrats — but then Lula called on his Culture Minister and the applause turned into a roar. For more than 30 years Gilberto Gil has been one of the two biggest pop stars in Brazil — a man whose music is as powerful and transporting as it is popular. Now, as the country's Minister of Culture, he is ready to work behind the scenes. As if to prove it, he soaked up the adoration for just a few seconds on that makeshift stage before tucking himself discreetly behind the President. Gil, 60, knows that in today's new and optimistic Brazil, he's not the headline act. Lula is.

"That's no problem," Gil says a few days later in his new office. "I'm always the second guy. Even with Caetano Veloso" — the most famous partnership in Brazilian music — "he's No. 1 and I'm No. 2. I'm quite at ease with it." Gil is also at ease in Brasilia, which is a shock. After all, this is the man who in the 1960s led the musical opposition to Brazil's military dictatorship — he was exiled to London for his role in the Tropicalismo movement, which embraced permissive attitudes the generals found threatening. No wonder his fans thought he might struggle to go, as he puts it, "from throwing stones to living in the greenhouse."

Gil hesitated before accepting his new post. "The doubts were more about whether I'd be able to sort out my life than whether I'd be able to answer Lula's call," he explains. "I never imagined he'd call on me. I don't think he should have — I thought others would be more useful, that he might need someone with more conventional qualifications. But he opted to be daring. He touched my hair and said, 'I want you with your dreadlocks.'" Though Brazil's population is 45% black, Gil and Social Assistance Minister Benedita da Silva are only the second and third black ministers in its history (football legend Pelé was the first). "We belong to the real Brazil that is finally starting to win a place in power, a place in the national leadership," he says.

Gil grew up with the inequities Lula has vowed to fight. "I am the son of a doctor and a teacher, a son of the lower middle class who managed to ascend to the middle class," he says. "I know the poor communities, where more than 70% don't have the fundamental basics for human dignity. They live in a subhumanity." A keen environmental and social activist — he often gives free shows in deprived areas — Gil got his first taste of politics 15 years ago, when he was elected city councilor in Salvador for the Green Party. He enjoyed that experience, but never contemplated entering federal government because, he says, "politics is a martial art, and I'm more cut out to be a diplomat than a politician."

But Brazilian politicians may be special. "Maybe power doesn't invest as much in people here," Gil muses. "They maintain their humanity, their cordiality. Brazil is different in that human warmth is essential and abundant." Now that he's part of the leadership, Gil must come up with meaningful policies on a budget of just $120 million, much of which is consumed by administrative costs. He's looking to create new outlets for social and cultural activism. "I had the idea of getting together a big group of artists from various sectors so they can contribute to the campaign against hunger," he says. Another priority is to expand the global perception of Brazilian culture beyond the clichés of football, carnival and beaches. Among the resources he wants to highlight: Brazil's colonial architectural heritage and even its tropical fish in the Amazon — a way to dramatize the need to preserve the rain forest. Films are another. City of God, set in Rio's slums, is playing to rave reviews in Europe and the U.S. but, says Gil, "we need to find more space for Brazilian films in the U.S., Europe and the great forums like the international festivals."

Gil is passionate about his new job, but his fans needn't worry. "Of course I will cut most of my activities as a musician, at least 80% of my professional career," he concedes. But he stills aims to play gigs on weekends and holidays, and he promises that his recently released retrospective collection of 28 CDs will soon be followed by a new studio album. Being a minister, he says with a sly smile, should provide him with a rich vein of inspiration. "I have lots of new subjects for songs. I'm thinking of writing a song about Zero Hunger."

• ANDREW DOWNIE
• Gilberto Gil wants to help Brazil's new President Lula