Paulo Costa Lima

Paulo Costa Lima (born 1954, Salvador-Bahia) is a Brazilian composer and writer.

He belongs to the second generation of the compositional movement initiated by the so-called Grupo de Compositores da Bahia (Group of Composers of Bahia) that was formed in 1966, with the basic assertion that it was “mainly against all and every asserted principle”. After studying composition with Jamary Oliveira and Ernst Widmer in Brazil, and Ben Johnston and Herbert Brün at the University of Illinois, USA, he became a professor at the Universidade Federal da Bahia, and held several positions such as Director of the Music School (1988–1992) and Assistant Vice-President for Community Affairs (1996–2002). Since 1992 his compositional interests addressed the application of rhythmic patterns of Bahia’s candomblé, creating universes of hybridization, non-sequitur and humor involving Afro-Bahian and Avant-Garde contexts and ideas. He received several composition prizes, among which the Vitae Foundation (1995), Secult-Ba (2009) and Funarte (2012). His pieces have been played in many countries with performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Musikhaus, Rode Pompe and São Paulo.

Later he participated formally of the political life becoming the President of the Fundação Gregório de Mattos (2003–2008), the cultural office of the city of Salvador-Bahia, indicated by Juca Ferreira (Green Party), Executive-Secretary of the Minister of Culture at the time, as part of a progressive political movement devoted to increase popular participation in the affairs of culture. His administration designed new formats for popular participation such as the Program Mestres Populares da Cultura, which led to the identification and recognition of elderly people with wide knowledge of popular traditions, being considered a paradigm shift in cultural management in Bahia. In 2009 he was appointed for the Academia de Letras da Bahia (founded in 1917), and in 2011 a founding member of the Academia de Ciências da Bahia. He defends the idea that teaching, writing and management activities are unified by the compositional challenges they involve, closely connected to the political needs of our times.

References

Books

Albums

Artigos

Performances

(1991) Summergarden Festival, New York, Pega essa nêga e chêra! for piano; (Cf. Alex Ross, New York Times);

Works

External links