Google recently celebrated the 80th birthday of Brazilian singer-songwriter Gilberto Gil with what it is calling its “largest retrospective of a living artist”.

The real standout aspect, however, is that a previously unheard album by the Tropicalia star was publicly unveiled as part of the retrospective celebrations.

It was run under the umbrella of Google Arts & Culture and created in conjunction with the Instituto Gilberto Gil, which looks after his archive.

Fabio Coelho VP, Google and country director for Brazil, explained: “After Google Arts & Culture had digitized Gil’s archive, there was a remarkable discovery. Jumbled up amongst the various files was an album that was assumed lost for nearly 40 years. This is the forgotten album, an LP that Gil recorded in New York over two months in 1982. For the first time, thanks to the digital cataloging carried out here, the record is available for listeners to enjoy.”

There are multiple components to the online guide to Gil, his life, his music and his political work – as well as his function as a global ambassador for Brazil and its culture. This includes three separate guides to different aspects of his career: Gil, The Music Man; Gil, The Inspiration; and Gil, The Soul.

There is a section diving into how he became “the father of Tropicalia” and another on how he brought the sound to different countries around the world, starting in 1969 when he became a political exile and moved to the UK after having been put in prison by the military dictatorship in Brazil.

It is an incredibly detailed and interactive overview of his life and his musical, cultural and political achievements. It also includes downloadable elements for teachers and parents to use in their lessons with children.

There have been major touring exhibitions in recent years based around acts like David Bowie, The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd, displaying objects from across their careers. But with over 900 newly digitised videos and tapes, as well as the lost album, this is one of the most impressive and detailed online-only exhibitions that has been put together in recent years.

An archive project, when done well and done widely, can profoundly vivify a catalogue.