I.M. Gal Costa

Caetano Veloso/Gal Costa

Gal Costa died just a few months ago at the age of 77 in Sao Paulo. I only learned about it a week ago when preparing for this painting and updating my archive. Back in my old radio days in the Netherlands I used to know it quite fast when a musician had died, my friend Wim, once a year, in January, did a radio special playing music from musicians who had died that year. He kept a list all year, and of course I was being kept up to date. Not so much anymore, if it isn't news for the big media, I probably won't hear about it. I'm actually surprised the passing of Gal Costa was not newsworthy enough, as she had been an important figure in Brazilian, and world music. I had never painted her before and her Relance, a b-side of her hit Milho Verde, written by Caetano Veloso, is her first ever listing in a Top 100. Together with Veloso, Maria Bethania (Veloso's sister), Os Mutantes, and Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa formed the core of the Tropicalia movement in Brasil, a mix of bossa nova, samba, and rock 'n' roll. The version of Relance in my list is a live TV performance with the group Dumingunhos from 1970.
 

Family First

Cover image from "Les Dani de Nouvelle Guinee, Vol. 2"

The world of ethnomusicology is no longer (and hasn't been for a long time) a field primarily occupied by a handful of adventurous men. As academic practices have shifted from being observers to being  participants for lengthy spells of time, ethnographers, anthropologists, musicologists, and others, travel with their families to go live among the cultures being researched. An added bonus of taken the family along is that of access to ceremonies restricted to one gender only, especially in societies that are strongly stratified. Another bonus is that when contacting the most remote peoples, a family will be perceived as peaceful visitors, while a company of men only can be perceived as a threat. Anne-Marie, and Pierre Petrequin visited, recorded, and lived among the Dani of Western Guinea in Indonesia. Some of their recordings were collected on four disks called Les Dani de Nouvelle Guinee. Two recordings, one from Volume 1, and one from Volume 2, are listed in this year's top 100.

Anne-Marie and Pierre Petrequin

Traditional music among distant cultures is often a family affair. With no television, computer, or radio available, families make music for entertainment (or so it seems.) Below are portraits of Irina Khritoroforovna Kolegova and Anna Vasilevna Kolegova. The two perform several tracks together on Kamtchaka:Tambours De Danse De L'extreme-orient Sibérien recorded by Henri Lecomte. I've painted both Anna and Irina Kolegova twice before. Read here to learn more about their recordings.

Anna and Irina Kolegova

In 1923, four of the six children, Paco, Ezequiel, Pepe, and Elisa, of Dr. Francisco Aguilar, created a lute quartet: Cuarteto Aguilar. From Murcia, Spain, the four made a name for themselves until the Spanish Civil War ended their career. The worked with the composer Manuel de Falla, and are pictured in a photo together with Igor Stravinsky. The tune Fiesta Mora en Tanger appears on an LP from the Secret Museum of Mankind series who are, after a lengthy hiatus, compiling new collections again.

Paco and Elise Aguilar

There are plenty of examples of lovers working together in the field of popular music. Caetano Veloso and Gal Costa are an example. The Top 100 2022 features the track Relance, written by Veloso and sung by Costa. (Edit: Despite some cozy pictures together, I don't see evidence the two were lovers. I guess the musicians of "Tropicalismo" were one big family.)

Caetano Veloso and Gal Costa

Family is on my mind a lot these days as I travel back and forth from the US to the Netherlands where my mother is battling a serious illness. Here's her portrait too:

Tonnie van Boekel