>>I meant to ask you the other day if you know of a Brazillian (they sing
>>in Portuguese so I assume they're Brazillian) duo who were doing great
>>smooth sambas etc with lyrics by avant-garde poets in the early/mid
>>sixties then turned to electric rock in 1968-69. The singer was Gil
>>Costa (sic) (I think) and the composer's (a man) surname began with "v".
>Any ideas / info appreciated!
It's not Gil Costa, but GAL COSTA...and the composer is CAETANO VELOSO.
They never performed as an organized duo, but took part of a musical
movement in the late 1960's, called TROPICALIA, whose purpose was to mix
avant-garde Brazilian music (as an answer to the academicism and xenophoby
of Brazilian pop music of the time) with foreign influences, like the
BEATLES (Sgt.Pepper's was their main influence, back in 1967).
With the help of maestro Rogerio Duprat, they had great recordings in the
late sixties, considering that the only equipment available in Brazil back
then was 2-track machines.
Other artists also took part at the movement, like GILBERTO GIL, TOM ZÉ,
JORGE MAUTNER, and, probably the best of them all, the band OS MUTANTES,
that had a real flavor of acid jazz.
If anyone wants to know about this, I'll be glad to trade recordings...
Cheers,
Alexei