hypersongs

Gal Costa

A Bahian singer who was a voice of Tropicalia with Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, sang on the manifesto album of 1968, and made "Baby" her best-known recording and the most played song in her setlists.

Salvador to Tropicalia

Maria da Graca Costa Penna Burgos was born in Salvador on September 26, 1945. Her nickname Gau, later Gal, came from Sandra and Andreia Gadelha, friends from the age of ten who later married Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso. At fourteen she heard Joao Gilberto's "Chega de Saudade" on the radio, and she worked as a clerk in Salvador's main record store. She made her professional debut on August 22, 1964 in Nos, por exemplo, the show that opened Teatro Vila Velha in Salvador, and moved to Rio that year. Her first recording was the duet "Sol Negro" on Maria Bethania's debut album in 1965, followed by her first RCA singles, and in 1966 she sang "Minha Senhora" at TV Rio's first International Music Festival.

Domingo (1967, Philips), made with Veloso, was her debut LP. Tropicalia ou Panis et Circencis, recorded in May 1968 at RGE Studios in Sao Paulo and released in July 1968, produced by Manuel Barenbein and arranged and conducted by Rogerio Duprat, is regarded as the manifesto of Tropicalismo; she sings on "Parque industrial", "Baby", "Enquanto seu lobo nao vem" and "Mamae, coragem". Her solo records Gal Costa and Gal (1969) were psychedelic, tied to the show Gal!, and Legal (1970) and the live Fa-Tal, Gal a Todo Vapor (1971) followed; the 1971 show was filmed by Leon Hirszman and Live in London '71 was issued in 2014.

Doces Barbaros and a long career

India (1973) was directed by Gilberto Gil and its cover was censored for its focus on her red bikini bottom. In 1976 she toured and recorded Doces Barbaros with Veloso, Gil and Bethania, and in 1994 they reunited at Mangueira. Fantasia (1981) contained her biggest hit, "Festa do Interior", then came Baby Gal (1983), Profana (1984), Plural (1990), Acustico MTV (1997, a sales success, with "Baby" live in July 1997) and Recanto (2011, produced by Veloso). She was inducted into the Carnegie Hall Hall of Fame in 2001, the only Brazilian singer, and received a Latin Grammy lifetime achievement award in 2011 and the Ordem do Merito Cultural in 2010. Nenhuma Dor (2021) gathered ten duets with younger singers, among them a re-recorded "Baby" with Tim Bernardes, and was her last studio release.

She died in Sao Paulo on November 9, 2022, aged 77, after cancelling Primavera Sound Sao Paulo, and was buried at the Cemiterio da Ordem Terceira do Carmo. Gil said our little sister is gone, and Lula called her among the world's best singers. Rolling Stone Brasil counts 44 albums from 1967 to 2021. The New York Times called her one of Brazil's greatest singers, and Rolling Stone ranked her 90th among the greatest singers, the highest-placed Brazilian woman. The HBO Latin America series O Nome Dela e Gal appeared in 2017 and the film Meu Nome e Gal in 2023, with Sophie Charlotte.

Albums

  • Gal Costa 1969 · Philips

    Her first solo record after Domingo: twelve songs, ending with a studio "Baby".

Songs

  • Baby Gal Costa · 1969

    Caetano Veloso's song, first a duet on the Tropicalia manifesto album of 1968 and then her solo recording of 1969, her most played song in concert.

Sources

  1. Gal Costa, Wikipedia
  2. Gal Costa, Wikipedia (Portuguese)
  3. Tropicalia titan Gal Costa dies at 77, The Fader (2022-11-09)
  4. Gal Costa setlists, setlist.fm