Speaker 1: Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
Speaker 1: is Wamanica. This month we're talking about women of sound.
Speaker 1: These women dominated the airwaves, innovating, documenting, and creating the
Speaker 1: audio landscape we live in today. Today we're talking about
Speaker 1: an icon of Brazilian pop music. As a fixture of
Speaker 1: the Tropicalia movement in the late nineteen sixties, her singular
Speaker 1: voice reflected the social unrest of Brazilian youth during a
Speaker 1: military dictatorship. Please welcome Gal Costa. Gal was born Maria
Speaker 1: di Grasa Costa Penna Bugos on September twenty sixth, nineteen
Speaker 1: forty five, in Bahia, Brazil. Even in her earliest days,
Speaker 1: she was determined to have a career on stage. She said,
Speaker 1: I was born wanting to sing, wanting to be a singer.
Speaker 1: I always thought I would be one. I had this
Speaker 1: into us and I wanted it. During Gal's childhood, the
Speaker 1: energetic samba music that had dominated Brazilian culture gave way
Speaker 1: to cool, romantic bosonova. The genre became incredibly popular, not
Speaker 1: just in Brazil, but internationally too. In nineteen sixty seven, Gal,
Speaker 1: who was now in her early twenties, released her first album, Domingo.
Speaker 1: It was a duet project with fellow Brazilian composer and
Speaker 1: singer Caetano Veloso. Their songs reflected the bosonova style that
Speaker 1: dominated the country's pop charts, but Brazil was going through
Speaker 1: an upheaval in pop music and in politics. In nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty four, a few years before Gal's first record, a
Speaker 1: military coup had overthrown the country's democratic government. The Brazilian
Speaker 1: people found themselves under a harsh military dictatorship backed by
Speaker 1: the US, and as the years passed, Brazil's young musicians
Speaker 1: like Gal started experimenting with ways to push back against
Speaker 1: the authoritarian regime. That's where Tropicalia came in, a new
Speaker 1: avant garde movement in Brazilian culture. It was inherently political,
Speaker 1: partly inspired by the leftist youth movement exploding in France.
Speaker 1: Tropicalia combined familiar elements of samba and bosonova with the
Speaker 1: psychedelic rock that was blowing up in Britain. Gal became
Speaker 1: one of the biggest names in the burgeoning genre, along
Speaker 1: with previous collaborator Kitano Veloso and big acts like Jilberto Gill,
Speaker 1: Maria Bitana and tom Za. In nineteen sixty eight, Gal
Speaker 1: was featured on the collaborative album Tropicalia Opani's Etzer Census,
Speaker 1: Bread and Circuses. The project was of joining of the
Speaker 1: leading creative minds of the artistic movement and produced Gal's
Speaker 1: first big hit single in Brazil, Baby. But despite the
Speaker 1: new genre's popularity, Trepicalia faced strong opposition from Brazil's authoritarian government.
Speaker 1: Political leaders were threatened by the movement's rejection of conservative
Speaker 1: culture and its leftist political overtones. In nineteen sixty eight,
Speaker 1: the same year as Gal's first hit, the government arrested
Speaker 1: her friends and collaborators Caetano Veloso and Jilberto Gil. They
Speaker 1: were released from jail only on the condition that they
Speaker 1: go into exile. Other musicians followed and continued to write
Speaker 1: and release music from their new homes in Europe. For
Speaker 1: the next three years. Gal visited her friends in London,
Speaker 1: but she remained living and working in Brazil. She would
Speaker 1: take songs that Veloso and Jill wrote and then release
Speaker 1: and perform them in their home country, though her music
Speaker 1: had to be approved by government censors. It was certainly
Speaker 1: risky to remain connected with her exiled collaborators, but Gal
Speaker 1: later said it was not a matter of courage. I
Speaker 1: belonged to that movement and they were my friends. Gal
Speaker 1: released her debut self titled solo album in nineteen sixty nine.
Speaker 1: The project revealed her continued evolution as a vocalist, combining
Speaker 1: her familiar soft whisper with sharper more daring vocals. She
Speaker 1: released a second solo album, Legal, the following year. By
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one, the exiled members of the Tropicalia movement
Speaker 1: were allowed to return to Brazil. Gal continued to release
Speaker 1: music and made waves in nineteen seventy three when she
Speaker 1: released her album India. The album cover, which focused on
Speaker 1: Gal's red bikini bottoms, was considered so scandalous that it
Speaker 1: was censored. Eventually, Tropicalia phased out of the pop charts
Speaker 1: in Brazil. For a while, Gal's music featured the synth
Speaker 1: heavy pop tracks that became popular in the late nineteen
Speaker 1: seventies and eighties, but eventually she returned to her Tropicalia roots.
Speaker 1: In her decades long career, Gals toured internationally. Her first
Speaker 1: performance in the United States was two sold out shows
Speaker 1: at Carnegie Hall in nineteen eighty five. She remained a
Speaker 1: beloved fixture of Brazilian pop music throughout her life, and
Speaker 1: received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Latin Grammys in
Speaker 1: twenty eleven. Gal died on November ninth, twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: She was seventy seven years old. All month we're talking
Speaker 1: about women of Sound. For more information, find us on
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplan,
Speaker 1: my favorite sister and co creator. Talk to you tomorrow.