Jun 14, 2016

RhoDeo 1624 Roots

Hello, we'll be staying in Brazil until the Olympics there's plenty of time to explore the it's music scene. The music of Brazil encompasses various regional music styles influenced by African, European and Amerindian forms. After 500 years of history, Brazilian music developed some unique and original styles such as samba, bossa nova, MPB, sertanejo, pagode, tropicalia, choro, maracatu, embolada (coco de repente), mangue bit, funk carioca (in Brazil simply known as Funk), frevo, forró, axé, brega, lambada, and Brazilian versions of foreign musical genres, such as Brazilian rock and rap.


Today, an awarded singer with an extensive solo discography and international experience. A fundamental presence in the Tropicalia movement, she has been in Brazil's leading team of singers for decades.....N'Joy

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Gal Costa was born on September 26, 1945, in the city of Salvador, the state capital of the state of Bahia, Brazil. Her mother, Mariah Costa Penna (deceased 1993) spent hours listening to classical music during her pregnancy in hopes that Gal would be interested in music. Gal's father, Arnaldo Burgos (deceased 1960), died when Gal was 15 years old and the two would never meet.

At the age of 10, Gal befriended sisters, Sandra and Andréia Gadelha, the future spouses of singer-songwriters Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, respectively. Since very young, she has been involved with music as a singer and violão player; when her mother's business broke she became a record shop attendant, where he spent long hours listening to music, especially João Gilberto. She became acquainted with Caetano Veloso in 1963, and friendly disputed him as boyfriend with her girlfriend Dedé, who would later be Caetano's wife. At 18, she was introduced to Caetano Veloso by Andréa Gadelha, engaging with him in a deep friendship that still lasts.

In 1964, Caetano was invited to organize a Brazilian popular music show at the opening of Salvador's Teatro Vila Velha. The show, called Nós, por Exemplo, brought Caetano, his sister Maria Bethânia, Gilberto Gil, and Costa (still under her name Maria da Graça). The show was a success and was re-enacted two weeks later, with the addition of Tom Zé (still presented as Antônio José). The success was even bigger, and the group (without Tom) soon presented another show, Nova Bossa Velha, Velha Bossa Nova.

Domingo In September 26, 1965, the group opened the show Arena Canta Bahia, at São Paulo's Teatro de Arena. At the end of that year, she was taken to the presence of her idol João Gilberto, who asked her to sing while he accompanied; after listening to her on several songs, he declared, "Girl, you sing beautifully. Someday I will return to record an album only with you." Also in that year, she appeared on Bethânia's first album, singing "Sol Negro" (Caetano Veloso). In 1966, she recorded a single for RCA (completely unperceived by the general audiences) and interpreted "Minha Senhora" (Gilberto Gil/Torquato Neto) at TV Rio's I FIC; she also took the name Gal Costa by suggestion of impresario Guilherme Araújo. In 1967, Costa recorded her first LP, together with Caetano (also his first LP), on Domingo. In 1968, she recorded two tracks on the LP manifesto Tropicália: Ou Panis Et Circensis that became her first hits, "Mamãe Coragem" and "Baby." Also in 1968, she achieved great popularity at TV Record's IV FMPB (São Paulo) when she won first place for "Divino Maravilhoso" (Gilberto Gil/Caetano Veloso).

In the next year, she recorded her first individual LP for Philips, Gal Costa. She then began a busy schedule of performances throughout Brazil and that same year recorded another self-titled for Philips. In 1970, she performed in England and, returning next year to Brazil, she recorded the LP Legal.

In 1968, Costa became a part of the Tropicalismo movement. She recorded four songs on Tropicália: ou Panis et Circenses. They were "Mamãe coragem", written by Veloso and Torquato Neto, "Parque industrial", by Tom Zé, "Enquanto seu lobo não vem", by Veloso, and "Baby", also by Veloso. The latter became Costa's first nationwide solo hit, becoming a classic of Brazilian popular music. On the same year, she participated in the 3rd International Music Festival, performing "Gabriela Mais Bela", written by Roberto and Erasmo Carlos. In November, she participated on Rede Record's 4th Music Festival, performing the song "Divino Maravilhoso", by Gil and Veloso. The song also became a nationwide hit and a classic song of popular music.

On 1969, Costa released her eponymous solo debut album, which included "Baby" and "Divino Maravilhoso". The album is considered a Tropicalismo classic, balanced between Brazilian stylizations and North American psychedelic influences. It also featured Costa's third and fourth solo hits, Jorge Ben Jor's "Que pena (Ele já não gosta mais de mim)" and Veloso's "Não identificado", respectively. On the same year, she recorded her second solo album, titled Gal, and featuring the hits "Meu nome é Gal", by Roberto and Erasmo Carlos, and "Cinema Olympia", by Veloso. The album served as the basis for the repertoire of the concert Gal!, a live album the following year again balanced smooth Brazilian sounds with heavy rock.

In 1971, she got success in the show Deixa Sangrar, presented in several capitals, and joined João Gilberto and Caetano in a live TV Tupi performance. In 1972, her show A Todo Vapor was recorded live on a double album, and she performed with Gil and Caetano at several venues. In 1973, she performed at the MIDEM in Cannes, France, and recorded the LP Índia, after the show by the same name. In 1976, she recorded the album Os Doces Bárbaros with Caetano, Gil, and Bethânia, also performing a series of shows with them under the same name, and recorded the solo album Gal Canta Caymmi. She recorded four more albums in the '70s. In the '80s, she gained international exposure, touring through Japan, France, Israel, Argentina, the U.S., Portugal, Italy, and others. In 1984, she performed in the show O Sorriso do Gato de Alice (her 20th album), which was awarded by APCA and received the Shell Prize. In 1997, she commemorated 30 years of her career with the CD and video Acústico MTV (BMG), with many important special guests. In 1998, Polygram released 30 Anos de Barato, a three-CD box set. The double-disc Canta Tom Jobim: Ao Vivo appeared in 1999.

Costa continued to be a viable and active artist in the 21st century, issuing new recorded material even as repackaging of her previous work hit the market. Gal Boss Tropical was released in 2002 by Abril, followed by Hoje: 2005 from Trama Records three years later. 2006 saw the appearance of Gal Costa Live at the Blue Note from DRG.


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This 1967 LP was both Gal Costa's and Caetano Veloso's debut. It's a quiet, post-bossa nova effort characterized by fine singing and some very good songs, some of them penned by Veloso himself. In some ways, Domingo is more like a folk singer/songwriter album out of the '60s London scene than a Brazilian pop record. As it was, this was a deceptive calm-before-the-storm since both artists would soon play central roles in the wild, psychedelic experimental scene known as Tropicalia. It would take years of musical and political tumult before each of them regained their footing, which makes this relatively modest and innocent beginning all the more valuable.



Gal Costa e Caetano Veloso - Domingo  (flac  160mb)

01 Coração Vagabundo 2:25
02 Onde Eu Nasci Passa Um Rio 1:59
03 Avarandado 2:44
04 Um Dia 3:12
05 Domingo 1:25
06 Nenhuma Dor 1:33
07 Candeias 3:12
08 Remelexo 1:54
09 Minha Senhora 4:15
10 Quem Me Dera 3:23
11 Maria Joana 1:41
12 Zabelê 2:48

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A lot changed between Gal Costa's pleasantly straightforward 1967 debut Domingo and her eponymous follow-up two years later. Domingo, also a debut for young Brazilian songwriter Caetano Veloso, featured a set of airy, somewhat standard bossa nova tunes, sung ably by Costa. Mere months after the release of this relatively safe debut, however, Costa and Veloso found themselves alongside Os Mutantes, Tom Zé, and Gilberto Gil, recording contributions to Tropicália: Ou Panis et Circencis, the unofficial manifesto of the Tropicalismo movement. The compilation dove headfirst into avant-garde experimentalism, embracing the psychedelic tendencies happening in American underground circles, and the politically charged energy of radical dissent to Brazil's ongoing military dictatorship. This wild new hybrid of Brazilian pop and far-reaching outside influences resulted in something instantly miles away from everything that came before it, and Costa's self-titled Tropicalismo debut is no exception. The album begins with a flutter of psychedelic echo effects, dissolving into gloriously lush string arrangements and lighthearted organ on "Nao Identificado," a brilliant opening track that introduces Costa's velvety voice, gently at first, as if to ease the listener into the new sounds about to be revealed. Softly glowing chamber pop arrangements like "Lost in Paradise" melt into unchained grooves and buzzing fuzz guitar bug-outs like the Gilberto Gil-aided "Namorinho de Portão" and the child-like singsonginess of "Divino Maravilhoso." The echo-heavy productions, patient strings, and gorgeously floating melody of "Baby" drive the album to its brilliant summit, offering a perfect articulation of the pensive, sexy, strange, and above all else, sunny blur that Tropicalismo was, even in its very beginnings.



Gal Costa - Gal Costa    (flac  244mb)

01 Não Identificado 3:19
02 Sebastiana 2:24
03 Lost In The Paradise 2:51
04 Namorinho De Portão 2:33
05 Saudosismo 3:10
06 Se Você Pensa 3:14
07 Vou Recomeçar 3:24
08 Divino, Maravilhoso 4:20
09 Que Pena (Ela Já Não Gosta Mais De Mim) 3:35
10 Baby 3:33
11 A Coisa Mais Linda Que Existe 4:00
12 Deus É O Amor 3:04

 Gal Costa - Gal Costa    (ogg  94mb)

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After Caetano Veloso broke out with his solo debut, the self-titled 1968 release recognized as the building block for the now infamous Brazilian Tropicalia movement, his friends and musical peers released similar albums, always upping the ante in terms of outrageousness and inventiveness. This release, the second of two self-titled albums released by Gal Costa in 1969, set the high watermark in terms of overall insanity and complete experimental freedom for the entire lot; not Veloso nor Gilberto Gil, Tom Zé, or even the rambunctious Os Mutantes stepped this far out into psychedelia, and even though Costa had hinted at the noisier aspects she was interested in exploring with her previous release, this album must have shocked listeners when it arrived on the shelves. In fact, 35 years of MPB -- or music from anywhere else in the world for that matter -- hasn't heard another sonic assault quite like this. Costa is a ball of contradictions here: overtly wild but in control; sweet and accessible, yet brash; and, at times, almost violent as she screams and moans her way through the album while spindly, whiny guitars mix with soulful bass grooves, bombastic drums, exotic horns, woodwinds, and strings. The sonic textures are taken completely over the top with judicious use of delays, reverbs, and various production techniques new and exciting at the time. When taken all together, the listener may not at first notice the high quality of the songwriting for the unreal, emotional freak-outs laced throughout the performances. Costa's crazy improvisations over Caetano Veloso's tune "The Empty Boat" serve as evidence of this delightful impulsiveness when placed side by side with Veloso's own rather forward-thinking recording of the song, which sounds positively conservative by comparison. All in all, Gal Costa is an indescribable, unpredictable, ambitious, and fun record preserving a slice of time when Brazil was at its most controversial state musically and politically and is a must-have for any psychedelic collection.



Gal Costa - Gal (flac 224mb)

01 Cinema Olympia 3:09
02 Tuareg 3:25
03 Cultura E Civilização 4:21
04 País Tropical 3:49
05 Meu Nome É Gal 3:26
06 Com Medro, Com Pedro 3:06
07 The Empty Boat 4:07
08 Objeto Sim, Objeto Não 5:09
09 Pulsars E Quasars 4:58

Gal Costa - Gal      (ogg  87mb)

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On Legal, the follow-up to her extremely bombastic previous release, Gal Costa retains only some of the fire and experimentation, instead opting to return to more accessible and subdued arrangements. This was likely a wise decision on Costa's part, even though the reckless abandon she displayed on Gal Costa was astonishing, for her to recklessly continue flailing down that path would've certainly led to her burning out or completely alienating the public she was trying to inform. Furthermore, Legal is a much more diverse record than her previous records, displaying influences from American blues-rock, R&B, and soul with winding, organ-driven rock closer to the sound Milton Nascimento would later latch onto and nurture with his Clube da Esquina albums. This diversity is welcome and served as a setup for Costa to further explore complex arrangements on her later records. Costa's lovely voice flourishes on the jazzy churning of "Língua Do P," the emotional groove of "Mini-Misterio" as well as the gorgeous version of Caetano Veloso's "London, London" -- certainly included as a reminder to the Brazilian public of her comrades (Veloso and Gilberto Gil) who were still exiled for upending politics through their radical music. The only questionable track on the album is "Love, Try, and Die," which has a fun, bouncy Dixieland style but is ruined by the unnecessary and terrible Louis Armstrong impersonation contributed by one of the backing vocalists. In spite of this small blunder, Legal appears near the beginning of Costa's most consistent period and should be sought out by those interested in the revolutionary late-'60s/early-'70s period of Brazilian rock.



Gal Costa - LeGal (flac 182mb)

01 Eu Sou Terrivel 2:30
02 Lingua Do P 3:40
03 Love, Try And Die 2:23
04 Mini-Misterio 4:16
05 Acaua 2:49
06 Hotel Das Estrelas 4:22
07 Deixa Sangrar 2:53
08 The Archaic Lonely Star Blues 3:03
09 London, London 4:00
10 Falsa Baiana 2:11

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2 comments:

Guitarradeplastico,scraping oddities said...

I have the albums in 2014 in flac, great singer , great arrangers in the wonderful Gal Costa - Gal Costa and others

Anonymous said...

I'd love a re-up of the Gal Costa