Psychedelic rockers Os Mutantes roll again-Brazil ‘09

Os Mutantes, the legendary Brazilian psychedelic-rock group, has reunited to record again after more than 35 years.

The reunion came about because of a miscommunication, says frontman and guitarist Sérgio Dias Baptista.

Courtesy by Nino AndresExperimental Brazilian band Os Mutantes reunites for a tropicalia concert on Saturday night at Tipitina’s.In 2006, London’s Barbican Theatre was hosting a tribute to the small but influential genre called tropicalia.

“It came off crooked in the press, somehow, that we were going to play, ” Baptista said. “I was getting phone calls and e-mail from all over the place saying that we were going to play and it was great. And then the radio station in Sao Paulo was saying that we were already rehearsing. We had no idea. We didn’t even talk to each other. But then our drummer, Dinho, called me and said, if you want to play, I’ll play.”

So they played.

Os Mutantes — literally, “the mutants” — formed in 1966 when two teenagers, Rita Lee and Baptista’s older brother Arnaldo, met in Sao Paulo at a high school band contest. Thirty years later, after David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label reissued their catalog, they would become a cult favorite championed by musicians such as the late Kurt Cobain.

The reunion show was followed by a short American tour. Last year, Os Mutantes recorded “Haih . . . or Amortecador, ” its first release in 35 years, for the quirky Anti Records, which is home to both Tom Waits and Nick Cave.

“When we did start playing all over the place, I thought it did not make sense to be a band that played music from the last century, ” Baptista said.

Os Mutantes “created their own sui generis blend of psychedelic rock and Brazilian popular music, ” Dunn said. They “invented a truly Brazilian language for rock, which is why they sound so original to U.S. audiences.”

The Mutantes genuinely did sound, and look, like nothing anyone had heard before. Sérgio Dias wore a priest’s robe; Rita Lee performed in a bridal gown. They parodied traditional rhythms and whirled elements of The Beatles and Frank Zappa with bossa nova and baiao. They played drinking glasses and cans of bug spray.

 Tropicalia’s heyday had lasted little more than a year. Os Mutantes continued to record for another decade (though Rita Lee left the band in 1972) but the supportive artists’ network of the tropicalists was for the most part gone.

Os Mutantes was not without its own personal storms. Arnaldo Baptista, who performed with the band in 2006, has battled psychological and drug problems since the ’70s, and did not appear on the new album. Rita Lee has been estranged from Os Mutantes for decades. Of course, a Mutante must, by definition, mutate.

The band on “Haih . . . or Amortecador” only includes two original members: Sérgio Dias and drummer Dinho Leme. The young multi-instrumentalist Vitor Trida, who wrote several of the new songs, is the newest of the bunch; the other tracks are collaborations with well-known tropicalists Jorge Ben Jor and Tom Zé.

OS MUTANTES

What: Cult Brazilian tropicalia band reunited after a 35-year hiatus. DeLeon opens.

When: Saturday, 10 p.m.

Where: Tipitina’s, 501 Napoleon Ave., 504.895.8477

Tickets: $20 in advance; $25 at the door.

FONTE: www.nola.com

Tags: Brazilian music, concert, Music, Os mutantes, psychedelic rockers