Nilza Costa Quartet (Brazil)
Nilza Costa Quartet
Nilza Costa hail from Salvador, the capital of the Brazilian state of Bahia, where the African slaves were once brought to work at the sugar cane and tobacco plantations. They gave rise to a community whose life is still thoroughly permeated by the music and spirituality of their ancestors. Costa compellingly draw on that heritage, taking advantage of various elements of the region’s culture.
The music of the Brazilian artist—especially in recent years—has been inspired primarily by candomblé, a syncretic religion that combines the beliefs of the West African Yoruba people with Christian influences. In candomblé, the faithful get to meet the orixás deities which, summoned by specific rhythms and songs, help one attain the desired level of spiritual energy (axé).
Candomblé—which in Afro-Brazilian culture involves a potent feminine element—merges in Nilza Costa’s work with the masculine component, namely capoeira, a combination of dance and martial art. The whole is enhanced by references to raw samba duro and jazz stylistics: a perfect setting in which the stories about Afro-Brazilians and their culture can be told.
Text by Dr. Łukasz Smoluch - ethnomusicologist from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
