Gal Costa’s Lost 1972 Studio Session Finally Surfaces

“O Dengo Que a Nega Tem,” hidden for 50 years, delivers 7 minutes of slow-building, percussive bliss.

In 1972, Gal Costa was riding high. Her live album Fa-Tal – Gal a Todo Vapor had just cemented her as one of Brazil’s most electric performers, a fearless presence who could pivot from tropicalia radicalism to torch-song intimacy without breaking stride. She was already a central figure in the countercultural wave that swept through Brazilian music in the late ’60s and early ’70s, but Fa-Tal put her in a different category: a star with range, danger and total command. 

It was in this context that she recorded “O Dengo Que a Nega Tem,” a studio track meant to build on Fa-Tal’s momentum. Its lack of a release at the time is a mystery, especially given the lineup and the material. Written by Dorival Caymmi, one of Brazil’s foundational songwriters, the track tapped into a deeper lineage of Brazilian music while still carrying the attitude of the era Gal helped define. It was a moment when everything she touched seemed to radiate possibility. That this song sat in the vault for more than 50 years is less a footnote than a reminder of how much even her lost work still commands attention.

A few months ago, out of the blue, Universal Music Brazil released the song as part of a surprise digital EP. If you’re just getting going on this Monday, light the fuse on your week by listening to this. The EP features a killer band: Lanny Gordin on guitar, Tutty Moreno on drums, Bruce Henry on bass and Perna Froes on piano.

“O Dengo Que a Nega Tem” starts in a measured groove, letting Costa’s voice move unhurried over the melody with understated control. But around the four-minute mark, the song begins to shift. Drummer Moreno breaks from the pocket, unleashing a cascade of snare rolls, tom-tom flurries and cymbal crashes. It’s not chaos, but it’s close, as if the band is trying to shake something loose from the song’s core.

The other two tracks on the Compacto de 1972 are just as striking. “A Morte,” written by Gilberto Gil, features a proto-boombap rhythm ripe for a DJ Shadow sample. Gal moves through it with eerie urgency, her voice tracing the edges of the void like she’s been there before. She and Gil had performed it live around this time, but this studio takes it in a different direction.

“Vale Quanto Pesa” is a song written by a young Luiz Melodia, who Gal was helping to usher into the spotlight. She gives it weight and swing, leaning into his lyrics as pianist Froes lets loose with a ridiculously complex melody. Taken together, the three songs don’t feel like outtakes. They suggest a whole other album that could have been. Let’s hope Universal is teasing this in anticipation of a bigger Costa archival project — or at least that they’ll issue this on vinyl.