Backlands Press

Elza Soares (1937-2022) is the best Brazil. With her singularly raspy voice, she dared to name the many forms of hunger humanity experiences - not only for food, but also for sexual freedom, racial...

Gilberto Gil (1942- ) is not just a musician. From an icon of the counterculture to Minister of Culture, he is the purest manifestation of what it means to be a Brazilian popular artist. "In the...

Tom Jobim (1927-1994) was the leader of a delicate revolution. The transformation he set in motion through bossa nova was so subtle that we often forget just how profoundly he altered the course of...