Ignored             Obscured              Restored

Gal Costa was part of Brazilian Tropicália royalty.  In her youth, she befriended Sandra and Andréia Gadelha, whom she considered her “sisters.”  These sisters in spirit would later marry two of Brazil’s most important musicians: Sandra wed Gilberto Gil, and Andréia (known as Dedé) married Caetano Veloso.  Through these friendships, Gal was drawn into the same creative orbit as Veloso, Gil, and Maria Bethânia (Caetano’s sister), forging deep personal and artistic bonds.

In Bahia’s vibrant 1960s music scene, such childhood and teenage friendships often blossomed into lifelong collaborations.  They created what could only be described as a musical family—shared ideals, movements, and artistic experiments that blurred the line between personal and creative connection.

By 1967, Costa had released her debut album, Domingo, a collaboration with Caetano Veloso.  It was a beautiful, if conventional, collection of bossa nova songs that hinted at her vocal warmth and interpretive skill.  But by 1969, she was ready to move beyond convention.  That year’s Gal Costa album ventured into more experimental territory while keeping one foot in her bossa nova roots.

Later that same year came Gal, an audacious, full-on embrace of the psychedelic energy then sweeping Brazilian music.  Listening to this record is an experience like no other — fuzz guitars, swirling arrangements, and Costa’s mercurial voice shifting from sweet harmonic blends to wild, unhinged improvisations.

One standout is “Cultura e Civilização” (Culture and Civilization), written by Gilberto Gil.

The song distills the Tropicália movement’s radical tension between high art and pop culture, between Brazil’s colonial inheritance and its modern identity.  Costa’s performance is both intellectual and erotic.  She treats the lyric with a knowing wink, simultaneously critiquing and embodying its opposites.  Her phrasing veers from sarcastic grandeur to earthy inflection, reasserting her Bahian roots with every turn of phrase.

As Gregory McIntosh noted in his AllMusic review, “Gal 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.”

If you’re up for the “trip”, listen to the rest of this groundbreaking album.

Enjoy… until next week.