The History Of Bossa Nova

The History Of Bossa NovaThe Brazilian medicinal drug style Bossa Nova is a music literary genre actuate of Brazilian Popular Music created in 1958 and faded out about 1963, lasting offici aloney only six years. This musical style is likely the most known style from Brazil in the entirely world, having achieved significant success in the four parts of the world such as the join States, Western Europe, Japan and most chief(prenominal)ly in its country of birth. This important music style shall be investigated and analysed carefully in the hope of obtaining valuable and evoke points about the history of this revolutionary musical phenomenon.To understand the musical style it is essential to first understand the origin of the terminus Bossa Nova. The term Bossa was widely apply in the 1930s as a slang word in the city of Rio de Janeiro. It meant to do something in a different further precise reliable charge. The term was basically utilize to describe something in a cool or trendy way. The Portuguese word Nova in simple English term means new. The translation of the whole term would therefore be something like New Trend. The term basically was created by the youth of that time, as a unionize of opposing everything they believed to be old, ancient and outdated in Brazilian Music.Bossa Nova was heavily criticised when it first came out to the mess, mainly due to its strong influences from American music and in particular on post war American culture. Big names such as of pianist Stan Kenton were said to be a major influence on the style, due to his new and innovative methods in his American jazz orchestra. An opposite influence menti angiotensin converting enzymed by critics is of impressionist composers such as Claude Debussy and Maurice Rave, both playing an important role in the de barely of the style. The most obvious and most common style influence however to the human ear comes clearly from American music such as cool jazz and horizontal beb op. This is mainly due to the use of dissonant chords which is very common in jazz music. These musical styles and influences, on with the youths discontent with the music scenario at the time, encouraged the musical revolutionaries to modernise music, thus creating the beautiful style known to all of us as bossa nova. Another certain(prenominal) and positive musical influence coming from Brazilian popular music is of local singers Lucio Alves and Dick Farney. Both singers were renowned in the 1950s for having soft and irenic vocals, as opposed to the stereotypical stronger and more decent voice which was very common at the time. Dick Farneys music is considered nowadays to be the Pre bossa nova phase. All of these circumstanceors contributed to the creation of the style and practically differentiated the bossa nova style from all of the other existing acts in the world.During the year of 1957 and onwards, a selective group of middle classed young and plan musicians would gath er together frequently in order to socialise, but most importantly, to play and make music. These people would get together and share their ideas in apartments or houses, at different spots around the city. The main place however where these people played music was at Nara Leaos apartment in Copacabana, a terrific district in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The beautiful Nara Leo, at the time was only 15 years old, but nonetheless still participated in those reunions and already at that age showed great taste for music and outstanding vocal abilities. Nara Leao would later become a professional singer, touring with artists such as Sergio Mendes and becoming one of the styles greatest female icon, cosmos referred to as thebossa novas muse and becoming forever immortalized in bossa novas history. In those musical reunions great musicians and singers such as Carlos Lyra and Roberto Menescal played part and were frequent attenders. As time progressed, that group gained more visibility an d increased in size. Artists such as Ronaldo Boscoli, Chico Feitosa and the great Joao Gilberto soon made part of that self equivalent(prenominal) group which would revolutionize Brazilian music. Bossa nova was above all an emerging urban movement in the country during the developing phase of Juscelino Kubitscheks presidency years. It is believed by many another(prenominal) critics that the style happened afterward the re-encounter of two members from the groups, Tom Jobim and Joao Gilberto in the year of 1957. According to writer Sstenes Pernambuco Pires Barros (2001, my translation) Some researchers believe that from those meetings Bossa Nova was created. Poet Vinicius de Moraes agrees however the theme is very controversial.A massive surprise that was introduced by the style was the fact that the lyrics in the poesys contrasted heavily with what was organism played at the time. The lyrics from the style generally adopted light and golden going themes, something very differen t to the original samba meters which were usually sad and depressing. As was mentioned before, the knead of singing and the way in which the lyrics were delivered in bossa nova style was altogether different to the other more operatic voices in the music business. The style brought a form of different singing, instead of actually singing the words, singers would practically speak in a very colloquial way the words, thus singing in a not so loud way. By doing this, the way of the stock was ultimately the lyrics of the rime, the way in which they were narrated to the listeners and most importantly the form that the accompaniment and harmony of the tune were directly connected to the singing, as opposed to having lite harmonies and powerful voices. In order to revolutionise Brazilian music, composers from the style would use extensively the so called dissonant chords, which later rather ironically as a form of manifesto against the critics, Tom Jobim composed the tune called D esafinado (Out of Tune, my translation). It is important to state that the musical revolutionaries didnt in any way dislike the existing national musical styles, but intead believed that the the old samba tunes were especially melancholic and very depressing. The youth of the nation believed that the music had to be changed sooner or later. They would in the future go in the lead and create the style bossa nova. A style that contained different harmonies, simpler lyrics and poetries, happy thoughts and most importantly, new rhythms. The style was however not intended to be better or worse than the other styles, it was meant to be simply different. Different from everything, more refined and with more optimistic views on the future. Brazilian writer who lived and took part in the whole movement Sstenes Pernambuco Pires Barros (2001, my translation) states that In reality, it cant counterbalance be classed as a musical genre. It is the form in which the music is treated, in relation to crush and rhythm.The first Bossa Nova mark officially started in May 1958 when female singer Elizeth Cardosos tracks were released in a LP with various artists. One of her two tracks was called Cano Do Amor Demais (Loveful Tune, my translation). The LP featured the legendary Joao Gilberto playing guitar in her both tracks. These turned out to be the recordings that would characterize the new invented guitar accompaniment made by Joao Gilberto, which in a few years would be one of the styles greatest trademark feature. This feature was in actual fact the syncopated guitar groove, which was syncopated on every weak drum beat. That same LP was produced by label Festa and featured the other track by singer Elizeth Cardoso called Chega de Saudade (Enough of Longing) by the genius musical partners Tom Jobim and poet Vinicius de Morais. The LP when released intended to focus mainly on the partners and especially on Vinicius de Moraiss work, since he wished to record his best poetry an d as consequence release it to the people. Surprisingly enough, according to a famous local journalist at the time Ruy Castro (1990, p.175, my translation) As opposed to what is believed today, that LP was not a hit when it was released in May 1958. Later on that year the same Joao Gilberto went on to record an LP as a solo artists in which for the first time he would sing and play. The LP featured one of the singers own songs, the tune Bim Bom but most importantly featured the same song from before Chega de Saudade of partners Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes. Joao Gilberto brought his own special touch again to the cover variant such as the characteristic guitar accompaniment and beat to the music, and in a sense brought to life once more the important features that would later become strong characteristics of the style. Joao Gilberto in his version also innovated and created the new way of singing to fit the style. He had sung the song using the features of the style mentioned p reviously above, this is singing with a not very loud voice and in a sense, nearly whispering into the microphone. The singer would later achieve both national and international success with that same song which features over 100 different covers by different artists, from those days until nowadays. According to the original composer of the song Tom Jobim The bossa nova of the song Chega de Saudade is practically concentrated on the harmonies, the alter chords which were not so used by musicians at the time, and in the new guitar hand picking groove executed by Joao Gilberto(2002, http//www.dicionariompb.com.br/verbete.asp?nome=Bossa+Novatabela=T_FORM_C).During the initial years, musicians from the old reunion groups formed in 1957 would play and be some of their music in local universities, in order to introduce their music to the people. Bossa nova music was in fact the first Brazilian musical movement to egress from universities, seeing that all of their initials performances t ook part in those areas. The musical group as a result gained even more visibility and followers, such as of composer Leny Andrade, famous for his instrumental music and the nowadays famous Sergio Mendes. As time progressed, the style was taken slowly to the other parts of the city of Rio de Janeiro, such as small venues and bars in the district of Copacabana, before achieving worldwide success and become a musical epidemic. afterwards a few performances, musician Tom Jobim started to rise in popularity, as people got to listen more and understand better the new style being played. Tom Jobims music plays an important part in the history of classic bossa nova with tunes such as Desafinado and Samba De Uma Nota S (One Note Samba, my translation). Those two songs in actual fact were the first songs chosen from the bossa nova style to enter the competitive American music market in the early 1960s. Together with Vinicius de Moraes, Tom Jobim created the all time bossa nova anthem known as Garota de Ipanema(Girl From Ipanema, my translation). That song in actual fact would later become the second most famous Brazilian song in the whole word, after only Aquarela do Brasil by composer Ary Barroso. Following the great acceptance of the style in American grounds, bossa nova artists were invited to play in what is known to many Brazilian musicians, as a historical concert in 1962 in the Carnegie Hall, New York. Some artists that played part in this topic were obviously Tom Jobim and Joao Gilberto, Carlos Lyra, Sergio Mendes and many other famous names at the time. The concert was intended to approximate the bossa nova artists to the American people and the event proved to be a great success, opening new doors and boundaries for that style of music internationally. That concert had such great demands and visibility that it was broadcast to the whole world live. Since then, Tom Jobims song Garota de Ipanema has been featured and played in more than 150 different recordin gs by different artists. The song was such a successful hit that besides being played by the composer himself in 1963, it was also played shortly after by Sarah Vaughan in 1964, Stan Gets in 1966, Frank Sinatra and Tom Jobim together in 1967 and even the great Ella Fitzgerald in 1971, amongst other great national and international artists. Jazz saxofonist Stan Getz and guitarrist Charlie Byrd in 1962 even recorded a cover instrumental version of the song Desafinado by Tom Jobim, showing once more the great acceptance of bossa nova music on international grounds.The chronological end of the style in 1963 didnt by any means signify that the style would whatsoever become extinct. In fact, the style left a great big legacy of fans and followers and especially admirers of the great style. As was mentioned before, songs were extensively covered by great names of jazz music even after the official end of the Bossa Nova Years as a form of paying back what the Brazilian style did to their mu sic. As Bossa Nova grew in America consequently so did Jazz music. In 1965, thus after the end of the musical movement, poet Vinicius de Moraes and musician Edu Lobo composed a song called Arrastao (Dragging, my translation). That same song was covered by singer Elis Regina. That song marked the end of Bossa Nova but only the start of what was going to be called in the future as MPB(Brazilian Popular Music), a style that would fuse many Brazilian styles and influences until the 1980s. In present time concerts are still put on dedicated to the Bossa Nova style such as when the style completed 40 years and other celebratory events. Also, in more recent years the style influenced greatly other generations of artists from a post British punk scene such as bands zeal Council, Everything but the Girl and even Jamiroquai. The style can still be frequently heard also in electronic music where djs have used bossa nova influences, creating the style bossa electrica.From all of this it can be finally be concluded that although the style only lasted roughly six years, the great impact that it had on the people at those times and even nowadays is unquestionable. Bossa nova was undoubtedly a revolution in Brazilian music for the important changes it brought such as the developed way of singing and especially the syncopated guitar picking, thus creating the classic bossa nova groove. During the years, it was widely recognised as being an exotic style with songs being covered restlessly by many different artists around the world. The style also brought and made people more aware of great composers such as Tom Jobim and Joao Gilberto, which is considered to be the pontiff of the style for his creations and creations in Brazilian music. Bossa nova left behind a great legacy in music and with no doubts whatsoever will hopefully dwell to do so, bringing happier, harmonic and enjoyable music to its listeners.Word Count 2498Reference ListBarros, S.P.P. (2001) Histrias da Bossa N ovaAvailable at http//www.almacarioca.com.br/mpb.htm(Accessed 17 April 2009)Castro, Ruy. (1990) Chega de Saudade, So Paulo Companhia das Letras, 1990Dicionrio Cravo Albin da Musica Brasileira, 2002Available http//www.dicionariompb.com.br/verbete.asp?nome=Bossa+Novatabela=T_FORM_C(Accessed) 17 April 2009)