It's possible you're not too familiar with Gal Costa. Hell, you might have never heard of her. If that's the case, you probably aren't all that into Brazilian music in the first place. Because Costa's career in música pop Brasileira has been a storied one.
Costa, born Maria da Graça Costa Penna Burgos in Salvador, Brazil, has all the right ties to her native country's musical sphere, such as working with famed contemporaries and near-legendary artistic exports Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso. She's also paid dues to her motherland's quintessential styles, from the traditional roots of bossa nova to the psychedelic tropicalismo movement of the late '60s. And of course, the sultry songbird has amassed 30-plus records throughout her five-decade career. Perhaps chief among them is 1973's India, which featured a very risqué closeup of Costa's red bikini bottom, complete with camel toe.
Whether she's still that brazen at 65 is a question you'll need to ask her this Saturday at the Fillmore. But as recently as five years ago, she was quoted as saying she considered herself "at most 42."
