This month many Australians witnessed the talent of well known Brazilian musicians starting with Yamandu Costa who opened the Melbourne Jazz Festival on May 11th. The 27-year-old Brazilian seven-string guitar prodigy Costa has been likened to Django Reinhardt and visited Australia for the first time. One of the greatest geniuses of Brazilian music of all times, Yamandu deserves the highest praise. Whenever he is on stage, he fills with joy the most select audience since his impressive performance shows the deep intimacy between Yamandu and his 7-string guitar.
Shortly after Yamandu’s visit, with the support of Monash University and the Council for Australia Latin America Relations (COALAR), two Brazilian musicians, Carlos Galvão the Director of the Escola da Musica da Brasilia, a double bass player and composer, and his brother Luis (Lula), a well-known guitarist and arranger based in Rio, performed in Melbourne and Sydney.
The visit is the second leg of an exchange, the first of which involved two Australian musicians (Doug de Vries, guitarist and Rob Burke, saxophonist and head of jazz studies at Monash) participating in the Curso de Verão at the Escola da Musica in Brasilia. According to Australian Ambassador to Brazil, His Excellency Mr.Peter Heyward, “ the aim of the exchange is to make contacts and explore options for further interchanges in the future, hopefully on an annual basis”.
Finally, The Opera House was taken by the energy of Brazilian singer Marisa Monte, regarded as the most famous exponent of the upbeat style known as Musica Mopular Brasileira, or MPB. Sydney had its first taste of Marisa, with two performances at the Opera House this month.
