Fall 2012

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Folk singer and songwriter Anthony da Costa ’13 was just 13 when he started frequenting open mics near his hometown of Pleasantville, N.Y., in Westchester. He had not yet reached his next birthday when he branched out to venues in New York City, including Columbia’s iconic Postcrypt Coffeehouse. And by the time he enrolled in the College itself, he’d performed around the country, recorded several albums and distinguished himself as the youngest winner of several prestigious folk competitions.

 “He lives and breathes it,” says Fred Gillen Jr., a Hudson Valley-based folk artist who has produced three of da Costa’s albums. “He also is not afraid to try something new if it turns him on, whether it is commercially viable or not. This is important and he gets it. Some artists have success with one thing and they do it over and over and get stuck there. Anthony is constantly moving forward and changing.”

In April, da Costa released his ninth album and fifth studio production, Secret Handshake, which he calls his best assemblage of songs. “Every song I’ve ever written is a love song in some way, shape or form,” says da Costa, who describes his style as a blend of folk, rock, pop, country and Americana. “I get influences from my own life, my friends’ lives. Sometimes I’ll make something up completely.”

One of his older songs, “Poor Poor Pluto,” speaks of the former planet’s demotion. “But even that is a love song,” he says.

Da Costa credits his parents for exposing him to music. He attributes his passion for folk specifically to his mother, who encouraged him to join the local church choir at 5. He started taking guitar lessons when he was 10. “I never wanted to look at the book. I wanted to learn songs, so my teacher would just give up and teach me a new Beatles song every week,” he says. “Especially with folk music, I’ve learned more by doing and being out there and learning from other writers and actually playing for people.”

By the time Anthony da Costa ’13 enrolled in the College, he was a familiar face at Postcrypt Coffeehouse, where he has been performing since he was 13. PHOTO: ERIN FOSTERThe late New York City disc jockey Pete Fornatele branded da Costa a “very young man with a very old soul,” yet as a teenager breaking into a musical style associated with a more mature crowd, da Costa had to dig deep to prove himself. “I was always a lot younger than most of the people I played shows with, people two or three times my age,” he says. (He was 16 when he won the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk and the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Emerging Artist competitions.) “It was easy to wonder, ‘What can this kid even write songs about?’ To that I’d say, ‘I’m a human being, too, and I’m still experiencing things.’”

In high school, da Costa leaned toward attending music conservatory for his next step. He switched tracks in part because a mentor, the late singer-songwriter Jack Hardy, encouraged him to seek a more comprehensive education. “He said, ‘Grasshopper, you’ve spent enough years putting stuff out there, it’s time to put some stuff back in,’” da Costa recalls. “It felt like the right thing to do. I can learn enough [about music] from traveling and playing.”

During the school year, da Costa plays shows off-campus every week, sometimes embarking on weekend-long trips. In the summertime, he performs across the country, as a solo act as well as part of the trio Elliot, Rose, da Costa. His 2012 tour included his first performances in Canada and a three-week tour of Denmark.

Since his first year in the College, da Costa also has devoted whatever spare time he has to helping run Postcrypt. Established in 1964, the acoustic-only, 30-seat venue in the basement of St. Paul’s Chapel features live entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights during the academic year. Da Costa typically hosts one night a month, books talent, serves as emcee and is involved in planning the coffeehouse’s annual Folk Festival.

“There’s nothing like it,” he says of Postcrypt. “The atmosphere is wonderful; it’s all student-run. The vibe has always been really nice.”

Da Costa is majoring in history with a focus on classical studies. Though his academic course load and performance schedule leave little time for sleep, da Costa has never considered a hiatus. “I want to get an education, but I can’t stop playing music,” he says. “I need to do it.”

Watch da Costa perform songs off his latest album, Secret Handshake.

View his website at anthonydacosta.com.

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