Brazilian musician Tom Zé (b. 1936) is one of the most inventive artists of the past century. His transformative music and poetic lyricism received critical acclaim in Brazil’s Tropicália, a countercultural movement that blended Brazilian music with global pop, psychedelia, and political critique. As many in the movement ascended to the mainstream, Tom Zé’s commitment to experimentalism kept him in outer orbit, drifting at the fringes of the Brazilian musical universe. That was until his imaginative art and sound captured the attention of Talking Heads front man David Byrne, who propelled Tom Zé to global renown.

Taking readers inside Tom Zé’s remarkable seventy-year career, Tropicália expert Christopher Dunn draws upon decades of conversation to decipher the musician’s unique genius, unraveling the cultural and political forces that have shaped Tom Zé’s life and work. Tom Zé conceives of his own performances and concept albums as sung journalism, confronting issues of poverty, authoritarianism, and corruption through irreverent and playful invention. Reminding us of the power of art amid political turmoil, Stray Dog in the Milky Way offers a critical retrospective of a visionary who transcends the constraints of the earthbound here and now.

Christopher Dunn is associate professor of Brazilian literary and cultural studies at Tulane University. He is coeditor of Brazilian Popular Music and Globalization.