Manecas Costa

b. 1967, Cacheu da Silva, Guinea Bissau. Situated between Guinea and Senegal on the West African coast, Guinea Bissau was Portugal's only mainland colony in the region and Costa sings in Bissau-Kriolu, a mixture of Portuguese and indigenous languages. The region's predominant form of musical expression is the sensuous gumbe dance, played on the tina water drum and the work of singer-songwriter and virtuoso guitarist Manecas Costa draws on such traditions with subtlety. Costa was performing with fêted local group Africa Libre by the age of 10 and by his mid-teens he was a local...