November 17th, 2022

Parties at friends' houses. This jovial, relaxed and deeply inspiring meeting. I'm sure you and I have been in one of those witch covens.

Gal Costa, one of the great voices of Brazilian music, was born at one of those parties, when, between drinks and cigarettes, her soul crossed paths with that of Caetano Veloso in Bahia of the 1960s. This meeting occurred in 1963, in an effervescent moment in Brazilian history. Brazil was living the hope of a progressive government when there was a military coup the following year. Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Maria Bethânia, the inseparable quartet that would later become 'Os Doces Bárbaros', formed together with a broad front of the artistic sector against torture, detentions, persecutions, murders that the regime represented.

Caetano, when explaining his love and transcendental connection with Maria da Graça, recounts that the two, among Os Doces Bárbaros, were the most 'João-Gilbertian' among their companions. Thus, this identification is explained through this musical and stylistic affinity. Gal's voice, which according to Caetano was the greatest singer in Brazil, is one of the most emblematic not only in national history but also in world history. On the day of her death, the American newspaper 'The New York Times' recalls that the singer received a standing ovation at her first performance in New York, in 1985, a year after the end of the dictatorship.

Owner of divine tuning and unique registers, her impeccable technique also allowed her to be a singer with an eclectic and varied repertoire, fluctuating between forró and jazz, bossa nova and rock, samba and protest music, with complete naturality.

"In addition to her vocal excellence, she was also an interpreter who managed to convey truth in songs that were both simple and rooty, as well as avant-garde and sophisticated at the same intensity," recalls music critic Rodrigo Faour.

This combination of vigorous technique and extensive repertoire was also one of the symbols of a generation that denounced the violence committed by the military dictatorship. Although she did not speak much in the last years of her career, Gal was always on the side of the fight against repression.

This legacy of struggle led her to break these years of neutrality to declare her vote on the broad and democratic front, made up of various political, social, intellectual and artistic sectors of the country, to declare her vote for Lula, the current president-elect and central figure of this movement.

The military dictatorship was a terrible period in Brazilian history, and artists were among the groups that suffered the most persecution from the regime. It took a lot of flexibility to write songs that got around censorship. Such sophistication of words had in Caetano y Gil one of its highest representatives. While the friends were among the most important composers of the Tropicalista Movement, Gal was one of the most allegorical voices. However, even with such a poetic capacity that Caetano and Gil escaped censorship several times, this did not prevent the comrades from ordering their arrests in 1969. An absurd and very comical passage in the document that decrees the arrest says that Caetano produced 'subversive and devirilizing' music. It was not until 1971 that the two Bahians were able to return to Brazilian lands, composing songs that were immortalized in Gal's voice again.

The music critic and professor at PUC-Rio, Arthur Dapieve, recalls the singularity of the artist's voice and also its importance on the political, cultural, and social scene. "Gal's voice was unique in MPB, because she didn't even seem to breathe with incredible skill. You can't tell where she's breathing in the music, it's a challenge for every singer. She did it extremely lightly, fluidly and in perfect pitch. And he still had good taste in his repertoire! There was also the behavioral side of challenging social conventions, taking a political stand against the dictatorship. Gal Costa's personality as a whole is something extraordinary."

Maria da Graça Penna Burgos Costa was an exceptional case in the history of Brazil. Her powerful voice continues to mark generations from the 1960s to today, when young people rescue her songs and interpretations from the first decades of her career and come into contact with her recent production, dedicated to various technological experiments and feats with current artists, such as Marília. Mendonça, Jorge Drexler, Rubel, Baco Exú do Blues, Criolo, among others.

Young people are also committed to social transformation, which they pass with praise for their standard-bearer.

Among her great teachings in these more than 50 decades that the artist has given us with her art, perhaps what stands out the most is that it is necessary to sing, and never stop, because we do not have time to fear death. Gal was a macaw, or rather a blue-ararinha, that although persecuted by the violence of men, offered us during his life with his song and his ability to reproduce, because as a good macaw, she knew that a bird that stops singing is the one that is dead.