Yamandu Costa

He was born in Passo Fundo, southern Brazil, and his parents – both musicians – called him Yamandu, “the precursor of the waters of the world” in the Tupi-Guarani language.

Surrounded by his mother, the singer Clari Marson, and his father, Algacir Costa, trumpeter, guitarist and leader of the group “Os Fronteiriços”, Yamandu grew up in the cordial atmosphere of popular music played in Rio Grande do Sul, where Brazil is bordered by Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Evoking thoughts from his childhood, Yamandu remembers how he was afraid of his father’s guitar when both were the same size … Around the age of seven, the instrument and boy were definitely friends. This period was spent learning his first chords. Soon after would follow the intuitive curiosity, typical of young and precocious musicians.

This gave Algacir the idea of taking his son, 10 years old, for a journey in a mobile-home. During the next two years, this extraodinary educator traversed the country in all directions, encouraging the young boy to discover the musical language of all the regions of Brazil. This deep knowledge of popular music was to be completed by an introduction to Argentinian music with guitarist Lúcio Yanel and with recordings, carefully selected, that Algacir offered regularly to Yamandu. Astor Piazzolla, Radamés Gnattali, Tom Jobim and Hermeto Pascoal were fed into his universe of sounds. This was followed by Baden Powell, Raphael Rabello and later, jazz and flamenco music! An introduction to classical guitar was also proposed to Yamandu, but his choice was definitely popular music.

Yamandu was still a teenager when his father was stricken with an incurable disease. The responsibility then befell to him and his guitar to provide for the needs of the family, a challenge that he met brilliantly.

Yamandu’s debuts in Brazil revealed an out-of-the-norm artist, beyond classification, touching, dazzling, an improviser of rare fecundity, a partner of surprising flexibility, a powerful guitarist with a style unmistakably his own whom GHA catalogue proudly welcomes !

GHA Records

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