Brazilian music legend Gal Costa is dead. The singer died at the age of 77, a spokeswoman for her PR agency said on Wednesday.
She did not provide information on the cause of death.
Known for her crystal clear voice, the musician was one of the most well-known figures of the "Tropicália" cultural movement of the late 1960s.
Gilberto Gil "moved and sad"
A native of Salvador da Bahia in northeastern Brazil, Costa has collaborated and performed many of their songs with many other famous Brazilian musicians, including Gilberto Gil, Tom Jobim, Chico Buarque, Milton Nascimento and Caetano Veloso.
Gil, who was also Brazil's culture minister from 2003 to 2008, was "moved and saddened" by Costa's death.
He called her "my sister" on Twitter.
"One of the most important artists in Brazil"
President-elect Inácio Lula da Silva called Costa "one of the greatest singers in the world" and "one of the most important artists" in Brazil.
She carried the name and the sound of Brazil out into the world.
"Our country is losing one of its great voices," Lula said on Instagram.
Costa was considered a muse of the revolutionary "Tropicália" movement, also known as "Tropicalismo".
The music of this movement mixed traditional styles like samba and bossa nova with rock and beat and other modern elements.
With its willingness to experiment and cosmopolitanism, “Tropicalismo” also had a political thrust, in that it was directed against the authoritarianism and culturally conservative attitude of the military dictatorship of the time.