Tropicália Pioneer Gal Costa Dies At The Age Of 77
The singer was one of the leading figures in the Tropicália movement of the 1960s.
Gal Costa, the celebrated Brazilian icon who was one of the leading figures in the Tropicália movement of the 1960s, died on Wednesday, according to The Guardian. She was 77.
Costa began her professional singing career in 1964. She released her first album, Domingo, in 1967, before emerging with the Tropicália artistic movement, which melds Brazilian artistic styles with genres from around the world. Her self-titled solo debut from 1969 is now considered a defining moment in the movement’s history. In a 2017 review of Costa’s 1973 album, Índia, Pitchfork writer Andy Beta wrote, “With 1973’s Índia, the samba singer Gal Costa cemented her status as one of Brazil’s biggest and most defiant stars, collaborating with Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil in the process.”
In a 2020 interview with Sounds and Colours, she reflected on her passion for vocal performances, saying, “Singing – exactly singing. I was born wanting to sing, wanting to be a singer. I always thought I would be one – I had this intuition and I wanted it. [I knew it from] when I was born. When I started to understand myself as an individual I already wanted to be [a professional singer].”
In that same interview, she also discussed her 2018 album, A Pele do Futuro, and how it was inspired by a chance conversation with her son. “…he played a recording of ‘I Will Survive’ by Gloria Gaynor, asking if I knew her. It surprised him when I said I did and that we were from the same generation. [laughs] The album is not entirely of dance music though, it has two songs [with that style],” she explains.
“It is a very eclectic record, with songs from Djavan and with different styles, which is my signature. It’s always been like this for me, I’ve recorded many different things in my albums. This eclectic and diversified thing is my signature.”
Regarding her impact on future generations of musicians, Costa reflected, “I feel gratified because I came around with a style that was very mine, but now I can see that my work influenced a generation, that I influenced a lot of people. It makes me realize that my work has been fruitful.”
