Biography

Yamandu Costa (born January 24, 1980 in Passo Fundo), sometimes misspelled Yamandú, is a Brazilian guitarist and composer. His main instrument is the Brazilian seven-stringed classical guitar. Costa began to study guitar at age seven with his father, Algacir Costa, leader of the group Os Fronteiriços (The Frontiersmen) and mastered the instrument after studying with Lúcio Yanel, an Argentine virtuoso who lived in Brazil. At age fifteen, Costa began to study southern Brazilian folk music, as well as the music of Argentina and Uruguay. Influenced by the music of Radamés Gnattali, he began to study the music of other Brazilians, such as Baden Powell de Aquino, Tom Jobim and Raphael Rabello. At age seventeen he played in São Paulo for the first time at the Cultural Circuit Bank of Brazil; the concert was produced by Study Tone Brazil. Costa's diverse styles include chorinho, bossa nova, milonga, tango, samba and chamamé. Costa appeared in Mika Kaurismäki's 2005 documentary film Brasileirinho.