Bossa nova (English: "New Trend") is a style of Brazilian music. Bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s, initially consisting of young musicians and college students. Since its birth, the bossa nova movement contributed with its style and a number of songs to the standard jazz repertoire.
Origin of the term "bossa nova"
In Brazil, to do something with "bossa" is to do it with particular charm and natural flair, as in an innate ability. In 1932, Noel Rosa used the word in a samba, which went "O samba, a prontidão e outras bossas / São nossas coisas, são coisas nossas" ("The samba, the readiness and other bossas / Are our things, are things from us"). As yet, the exact origin of the term "bossa nova" remains uncertain. What is certain is that the term "bossa" was used to refer to any new "trend" or "fashionable wave" within the artistic beach-culture of late 1950s Rio de Janeiro. The term finally became known and widely used to refer to a new music style, a fusion of samba and jazz, when the now famous creators of "bossa nova" referred to their new style of work as "a bossa nova", as in "the new thing."
Brazilian author Ruy Castro, in his book Bossa Nova, claimed that "bossa" was already in use in the 1950s by musicians, as a word to characterize someone's knack for playing or singing idiosyncratically. He cites a claim that the term "bossa nova" might have first been used in publicity for a concert given in 1958 by the Grupo Universitário Hebraico do Brasil (University Hebrew Group of Brazil), consisting of Sylvinha Telles, Carlinhos Lyra, Nara Leão, Luizinho Eça, Roberto Menescal, et al. They were likely using the term "bossa nova" then as a generic reference to what they were doing in music at the time, which had no particular name yet. However, the term took hold as the definition of their own specific artistic creation, which became known as "bossa nova", and is often simply known as "bossa" today.
The musical style evolved from samba, but is more complex harmonically and less percussive. Bossa nova emerged primarily from the upscale beachside neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro as opposed to Samba's origins in the favelas of Rio. Certain similar elements were already evident, even influencing Western classical music like Gershwin's Cuban Overture which has the characteristic 'Latin' clave rhythm. The influence on bossa nova of jazz styles such as cool jazz is often debated by historians and fans, but a similar "cool sensibility" is apparent.
Bossa nova was developed in Brazil in the mid 1950s, with its creation being credited to artists including Johnny Alf, Antonio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto. One of the first songs was "Bim-Bom"(Gilberto). Bossa nova was made popular by Dorival Caymmi's "Saudade da Bahia" and Elizete Cardoso's recording of "Chega de Saudade" on the Canção do Amor Demais LP, composed by Vinícius de Moraes (lyrics) and Antonio Carlos Jobim (music). The song was soon after released by Gilberto.
The initial releases by Gilberto and the internationally popular 1959 film Orfeu Negro ("Black Orpheus", with score by Luiz Bonfá) brought significant popularity of this musical style in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America, which spread to North America via visiting American jazz musicians. The resulting recordings by Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz cemented its popularity and led to a worldwide boom with 1963's Getz/Gilberto, numerous recordings by famous jazz performers such as Ella Fitzgerald (Ella Abraça Jobim) and Frank Sinatra (Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim). Since that time, the bossa nova style maintains a lasting influence in world music for several decades and even up to the present.
The first bossa nova single to achieve international popularity was perhaps the most successful of all time, the 1964 Getz/Gilberto recording "The Girl From Ipanema", edited to include only the singing of Astrud Gilberto, Gilberto's then wife. The resulting fad was not unlike the disco craze of the 1970s. The genre would withstand substantial "watering down" by popular artists throughout the next four decades.
An early influence on bossa nova was the song "Dans mon île" by French singer Henri Salvador, featured in the 1957 Italian movie Europa di notte by Alessandro Blasetti; the song was distributed in Brazil and covered later by Brazilian artists Eumir Deodato (Los Danseros en Bolero - 1964) and Caetano Veloso (Outras Palavras - 1981). In 2005, Henri Salvador was awarded the Brazilian Order of Cultural Merit, which he received from singer and Minister of Culture, Gilberto Gil, in the presence of President Lula for his influence on Brazilian culture.
Bossa nova is most commonly performed on the nylon-string classical guitar, played with the fingers rather than with a pick. Its purest form could be considered unaccompanied guitar with vocals, as exemplified by João Gilberto. Even in larger, jazz-like arrangements for groups, there is almost always a guitar that plays the underlying rhythm. Gilberto basically took one of the several rhythmic layers from a samba ensemble, specifically the tamborim, and applied it to the picking hand.
Though not as prominent as the guitar, the piano is another important instrument of bossa nova; Jobim wrote for the piano and performed on it for most of his own recordings. The piano has also served as a stylistic bridge between bossa nova and jazz, enabling a great deal of cross-pollination between the two. In addition to the piano, the electronic organ is also prominently featured on many classic bossa nova tracks, such as "(So Nice) Summer Samba" by Walter Wanderly.
Drums and other percussion are generally not considered essential bossa nova instruments. Nonetheless, there is a distinctive bossa nova drumming style like that of Helcio Milito and Milton Banana, characterized by continuous eighths on the high-hat (mimicking the samba Pandeiro) and tapping of the rim or "rim clicks" in a clave pattern. The bass drum usually plays on "1-&3-&1".
Lush orchestral accompaniment is often associated with bossa nova's North American image as "lounge" music. It is present in many of Jobim's own recordings, and in those of Astrud Gilberto. Dusty Springfield would both feature and epitomize this element on her Philips recording of "The Look of Love", a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and one of the most respected American pop interpretations of the bossa nova. (That version is not the Phil Ramone version Springfield first recorded.) The unique aural texture of bossa strings, when used, is an important secondary characteristic of the genre. Bossa nova is at heart a folk genre, and not all bossa nova records have strings.
Bossa nova has at its core a rhythm based on samba. Samba combines the rhythmic patterns and feel originating in former African slave communities. Samba's emphasis on the second beat carries through to bossa nova (to the degree that it is often notated in 2/4 time). However, unlike samba, bossa nova doesn't have dance steps to accompany it. When played on the guitar, in a simple one-bar pattern, the thumb plays the bass notes on 1 and 2, while the fingers pluck the chords in unison on the two eighth notes of beat one, followed by the second sixteenth note of beat two. Two-measure patterns usually contain a syncopation into the second measure. Overall, the rhythm has a "swaying" feel rather than the "swinging" feel of jazz. As bossa nova composer Carlos Lyra describes it in his song "Influência do Jazz", the samba rhythm moves "side to side" while jazz moves "front to back". Bossa nova was also influenced by the blues, but because the most famous bossa novas lack the 12-bar structure characteristic of classic blues, as well as the statement, repetition and rhyming resolution of lyrics typical of the genre, bossa nova's affinity with the blues often passes unnoticed.
In terms of harmonic structure, bossa nova has a great deal in common with jazz, in its sophisticated use of seventh and extended chords. The first bossa nova song, "Chega de Saudade", borrowed some structural elements from choro; however, later compositions rarely followed this form. Jobim often used challenging, almost dissonant melody lines, the best-known being in the tunes "Desafinado" ("Off-Key"). Often the melody goes to the altered note in the chord. For example, if the chord is DM7#11, the note sung in the melody line there would be G#, or the sharp 11.
Aside from the guitar style, João Gilberto's other innovation was the projection of the singing voice. Prior to bossa nova, Brazilian singers employed brassy, almost operatic styles. Now, the characteristic nasal vocal production of bossa nova is a peculiar trait of the caboclo folk tradition of north-eastern Brazil. Gilberto managed to dramatically reduce that to a subtle near-whisper.
The lyrical themes found in bossa nova are women, love, longing, and the best of youth.
There are two types of bossa nova: the early bossa nova (beginning in the late 1950s), and the bossa nova after the coup d'état of 1964. The musical lyrics of the late 1950s depicted the easy life of the middle- to upper-class Brazilians, though the majority of the population was in the working class. However, in conjunction with political developments of the early 1960s (especially the 1964 coup d'état), bossa nova's style became more "angry", with lyrics becoming more thematically charged, referring explicitly to people's struggles and liberty.
Modern developments
From the mid-nineties, various other European artists reached out to bossa nova for inspiration, incorporating electronic music and creating styles such as BossaElectrica and TecnoBossa. New singers like Bebel Gilberto, daughter of bossa nova co-creator João Gilberto and singer Miúcha, and new European bands like Nouvelle Vague and Koop, used modern approaches to further interpret this soothing style of music. Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim used a bossa nova rhythm to connote a "nightclub" feeling in his song "The Ladies Who Lunch" from the album Company (1970).
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