Maria da Graça Costa Penna Burgos (September 26, 1945, Salvador, Brazil — N… Read Full Bio ↴Maria da Graça Costa Penna Burgos (September 26, 1945, Salvador, Brazil — November 9, 2022, São Paulo, Brazil), best known as Gal Costa, was a popular Brazilian MPB singer and musician, regarded by many as Brazil's greatest female singer of all time. Also known as "Musa da Tropicália" (Muse of Tropicália), she was one of the most diverse singers in Brazil, moving across all musical genres and being elected as the greatest voice in Brazilian music by Rolling Stone magazine, as well as one of the 10 greatest singers in the world by Time magazine.

Gal became one of Brazil's foremost Tropicália counterculture movement singers during the late 1960s and early 70s, quickly earning the title as one of the best and most acclaimed singers in Brazil, following a very succesful career with many hits and prestige over the years. During Tropicália, she became a political activist, coming into conflict with Brazil's government when dissent in music was censored, and later coming to represent the movement all alone in her country when her fellow Tropicália members and friends were exhiled to London due to the heavy dictatorship that was going on at the time.

Fellow musician Caetano Veloso, introduced her to Gilberto Gil and Tom Zé in 1963 (and later Maria Bethânia), who managed to secure her a recording deal in São Paulo for her debut album Domingo with Caetano Veloso. A bit before recording her first album, "Father of Bossa Nova" João Gilberto, met her and after a couple of hours hearing Gracinha (as she was known at the time) sing for him as he was playing the acoustic guitar, he said: "Gracinha, you're Brazil's greatest female singer". In the following years, Gal would prove his statement right with a fruitful and rewarding career, and with the encouragement of João Gilberto himself; her biggest idol.

Gal has recorded songs composed by a number of Brazil's most popular songwriters such as Antônio Carlos Jobim, Jorge Ben Jor, Chico Buarque, Rita Lee and especially her close friends Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil. She was also a member of the supergroup Doces Bárbaros, active in 1976, 1994 and 2002.

Ave Maria No Morro
Gal Costa Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Barracão de zinco
Sem telhado, sem pintura
Lá no morro
Barracão é bangalô
Lá não existe

Felicidade de arranha-céu
Pois quem mora lá no morro

Já vive pertinho do céu
Tem alvorada, tem passarada
Alvorecer
Sinfonia de pardais
Anunciando o anoitecer

E o morro inteiro no fim do dia
Reza uma prece ave Maria
E o morro inteiro no fim do dia
Reza uma prece ave Maria
Ave Maria
Ave
E quando o morro escurece

Elevo a Deus uma prece
Ave Maria

Overall Meaning

In Gal Costa's song Ave-Maria No Morro, the lyrics tell of life in a shantytown on a hillside (morro) in Brazil. The first verse describes the makeshift homes ("barracão de zinco") that are made of metal and lack basic amenities such as a roof and painting. However, the people who live there still find joy in life ("felicidade") despite their humble surroundings. The second verse paints a picture of the natural beauty that surrounds the shantytown with its morning sunrises and birds announcing the approaching night. The chorus reveals that at the end of the day, the entire hillside community prays the Ave Maria in unison. In the final verse, the singer herself joins in the prayer.

The song is a vivid portrayal of the daily struggles of impoverished communities in Brazil and highlights the power of faith and community in overcoming adversity. The Ave Maria, a traditional Catholic prayer, is used as a unifying force that binds the people together and gives them hope. Though the physical conditions of the shantytown are bleak, the beauty of nature and the shared religious experience provide moments of transcendence and connection.

Line by Line Meaning

Barracão de zinco
A small hut made of zinc

Sem telhado, sem pintura
Without roof or paint

Lá no morro
Up there on the hill

Barracão é bangalô
The hut is a bungalow

Lá não existe felicidade de arranha-céu
There is no skyscraper happiness up there

Pois quem mora lá no morro
For those who live up there

Já vive pertinho do céu
They already live close to the sky

Tem alvorada, tem passarada, alvorecer
There is sunrise, there are birds, dawn

Sinfonia de pardais
A symphony of sparrows

Anunciando o anoitecer
Announcing the nightfall

E o morro inteiro no fim do dia
And the whole hill at the end of the day