Saturday, April 4, 2009

Manecas Costa

Manecas CostaWhile many people have never heard of Guinea-Bissau and cannot find it in a map, its music deserves far wider recognition. Click on Ermons di Terra and hear Manecas Costa lovingly play the acoustic guitar to a beautiful gumbe* melody replete with native Guinean sounds such as the water drum. Listen to how his soulful voice reaches out, how it yearns, how it complements the melody perfectly. His music is universal and you don’t need to understand Creole to appreciate its unique qualities. Manecas Costa is one of Guinea-Bissau’s most accomplished musicians, a master of the acoustic guitar. He has played with several notable musicians including the Angolan Waldemar Bastos, the Spaniard Jose Romero, and Sara Tavares. His lyrics usually have a social theme, dealing with the many difficulties of his country. Manecas composes, produces, and writes all his own material, and his skills are displayed to full effect on the catchy tune Fundo di Matu, a hit when it came out in Portugal, his adopted home.

Ermons di Terra
Fundo di Matu

Enquanto que ha muita gente pelo mundo afora que nunca ouviu falar de Guiné Bissau nem o consegue encontrar num mapa, a sua música merece uma consideração muito maior. Ouça a bela canção Ermons di Terra, em estilo gumbe...escute o arranjo instrumental, puramente guineense, como o batuque d’agua...escute a forma como Manecas Costa toca a guitarra amorosamente, como a voz dele soa lindamente sobre a melodia, repleta de alma e sentimento, cheia de soul. Manecas Costa é um dos embaixadores principais de música guineense, mostrando ao mundo que existe um lado belo de Guiné Bissau, londe dos assasinatos políticos que assolam a capital. Um mestre da guitarra acústica, Manecas Costa ja tocou com o conhecido Waldemar Bastos, o espanhol José Romero, e Sara Tavares. As suas letras têm um conteúdo fortemente social, descrevendo e comentando sobre o dia a dia guineenese. Ele compõe, produz, e escreve o seu próprio material, incluindo a canção Fundo di Matu, uma das suas mais conhecidas canções. Guiné Bissau pode ser um dos países mais probres do mundo, mas Manecas Costa, Bidinte, e outros fazem da sua música uma das mais ricas em África.

*Gumbe is a rhythm of song native to Guinea-Bissau

- Photo by Daniel Arantes

Manecas Costa on Amazon

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Manecas Costa is one of my favorite musicians, but I can't find anything of his since 2003...do you know if he is still playing? does he have any new CDs available?

Claudio Silva said...

Hi there visitor,
Manecas is a very good musician indeed - how did you first hear about him and his music? Unfortunately though, he hasn't released an album since 2003 and I really haven't heard much about him for awhile now. Nor does he have a Myspace where information about upcoming tours would be available. I'll keep looking.

Richie Roads said...

I love Manecas, his album Paraiso Di Gumbe is one of my favorite CDs (I have more than 1200 albums of all kinds of music). As soon as I heard Ermons de Terra from the Putumayo Presents Afro-Portuguese compilation I knew I had to get his album and it did not disappoint.

Claudio Silva said...

I wonder if he'll ever come out with another one!

Debria said...

I have been looking for anything by this great guitarist for a long time and just came across Espace
by T.A.M.A. on Real World Records LTD. This a Jan 2002 recording and Manecas Costa is featured (vocals and guitar) on four selections and they were all new to me. It is on eMusic.com

Primo said...

How about this?:

http://www.aloirmao.com/

Manecas Costa what a talent and a great live performer with a band! Pity he hasn't had more exposure since Paraiso di Gumbe. Maybe he has had other stuff on his mind...

Claudio Silva said...

Primo,

We have that here too! http://lusotunes.blogspot.com/2010/08/alo-irmao-by-narf-and-manecas-costa.html

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