BY ROSE DE LA MONTAÑA
Welcome to our new mini interview series, in which we chat with some of the world’s top classical guitarists — each in 5 minutes!
These artists will perform at the inaugural Guitar Perspectives Winter Celebration. Here, you’ll get to meet Yamandu Costa!
Yamanda is a passionate expert in Brazilian and Latin American guitar genres. He is a Brazilian 7-string guitar virtuoso, and regularly performs original compositions.
Firstly, lets resolve some myths. Did you dad really forbid you from playing his guitar when you were a kid? And did you later stop going to school to play guitar all the time as a child?
It’s true, my father was very careful with his instrument and had a lot of love for his instrument. So the guitar in our house was a mystery for me, as he always put his guitar in high places, on top of wardrobes, for myself as a child to not be able to reach it. That created a lot of curiosity in me!
And it’s also true that I stopped going to school. That was an irresponsible decision of both mine and my dad’s. I lived with my father in that time and we travelled a lot. My childhood was very gypsy-like. I was born into a family of musicians that travelled and gave performances in various places in the south of Brazil. I grew up in a motorhome, and it was very difficult to maintain a school life.
When I was around 11 or 12 years old, I was already developing so much musically that we made this decision, and my father was very disciplined with me and my guitar studies, as I didn’t go to school, but there was a routine for me to play music all the time to develop my musicality.
WATCH: Yamandu sings as a child, with his father playing guitar
Brazil has a thriving guitar culture, and you have known and played with many great Brazilian musicians. Can you tell me of a couple of musicians who you always listen to, or have even worked with, that inspire you the most — and why?
I’ve had the privilege of knowing composers that were very important. The first for me that I knew was Baden Powell who created a definitive style of Brazilian guitar and travelled the world playing Brazilian music. I met him and played with him when I was 15 years old and he was around 60 years old. It was a privilege to know him and play with him.
I also played with Dominguinhos, a great master of the accordion and a music ambassador of northeast Brazil. It was a very interesting encounter, as we are from distinct parts of Brazil: I am from the south and I have a lot of gaucho influence, and he comes from the north and has the northeastern roots and influences. He left a great legacy behind him.
These artists are people that come through our lives and teach us a lot, and I feel like I’ve been a very lucky person to have known and played with artists of this level and importance.
What else do you want to fulfil for yourself creatively?
As an artist, I am always looking to find something new; to find something original and to evolve over time; to find new cultures of music that somehow support and inspire my artistic search.
I am seen as a very ‘Latin American’ Brazilian, and my aim is to show the world not only Brazilian music but also from other countries of Latin America — to show the music of this whole continent. Brazil is a country that never felt Latin American, we can even have a little embarrassment over our traditions, but in my career I believe in the beauty of the people and to be able to play diverse music.
As a travelling musician who meets and connects with so many people through music — in a world that can often undermine the importance of music in society — what can you say about the importance of music-making in the face of social conflict?
I think that music represents Brazilian people, and that has always been the case. Brazilian music is the fruit of the people, and a photo of the cultural melting pot that we are[…] We are passing through a very delicate moment politically, with the extreme right taking over, and for artists its very sad. I travel the world and with the conservative governments, I never see that they create a more tolerant, interesting place. It’s a kind of sadness, and I am even moving to Portugal at the end of this year, because of the current politics in Brazil.
To sign off on a positive note: What kind of fruit would you be and why?
Good god, what a question! [Laughs] I would be grapes, because I love wine…
See Yamandu live as part of the inaugural Guitar Perspectives Winter Celebration on August 4 at the Ian Potter Southbank Centre.
WATCH: Yamandu Costa plays Choro Loco (from the album Mafúa)
About the writer
Rose de La Montaña is a fingerstyle guitarist with a love for solo Latin American guitar music, where classical and contemporary popular guitar styles meet. Rose would be a guava. Find her at mountainroseguitar.com.
Shout Rose a coffee?
[purchase_link id=”13815″ style=”button” color=”orange” text=”Pay what you like”]
Images supplied.
Pay what you like securely via PayPal, 80 per cent goes to the writer, 20 per cent to our volunteer editor for getting this show on the road.
