Famous Bossa Nova Artists:

FAMOUS BOSSA NOVA ARTISTS

+ João Gilberto
+ Antonio Carlos Jobim
+ Astrud Gilberto
+ Stan Getz
+ Sergio Mendes
+ Charlie Byrd
+ Lisa Ono
+ Basia
+ Bebel Gilberto

Bossa Instruments:

Bossa nova is most commonly performed on the nylon-string classical guitar, played finger style (without 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.

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.

Drums and percussion are not considered essential bossa nova instruments. Nonetheless, there is a distinctive bossa nova drumming style, characterized by continuous eighths on the high-hat (mimicking the samba tambourine) and tapping of the rim.

Lush orchestral accompaniment is often associated with bossa nova's North American image as "elevator" or "lounge" music. While it is present in much of Jobim's own recordings, it is rarely heard elsewhere.

BOSSA NOVA: ORIGIN AND HISTORY

The music derives from samba but is more complex harmonically and less percussive. The influence on bossa nova of North American jazz styles such as cool jazz is often debated by historians and fans, but a similar "cool sensibility" is apparent.The initial releases by Gilberto and the 1959 film Black Orpheus brought huge popularity in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America, and this spread to North America by way of visiting American jazz musicians. The resulting recordings by Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz cemented its popularity there, and led to world-wide 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 & Antonio Carlos Jobim), and the entrenchment of the bossa-nova style as a lasting influence in world music for several decades and to date.While the popularity of bossa nova waned by the late 1960s, it exerted a great influence on subsequent Brazilian popular music styles such as tropicália and MPB.

ORIGINS OF THE TERM, "BOSSA"

Bossa nova means "new bossa". However, the word "bossa", itself, was often used by musicians prior to the "Chega De Saudade" recording. In Brazil, when someone does anything with "bossa" (com bossa), it meant (and still does) that the "something" is performed with particular charm and "gusto".... 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 (Samba, empty pockets and other bossas/Are our specialities."

What Is Bossa Nova?

Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music created by João Gilberto and first introduced in Brazil by Gilberto's recording of "Chega de Saudade", in 1958, a song written by Antonio Carlos Jobim, first released as a single, and shortly thereafter as the album by Gilberto, bearing the same title as the song (1959).With João Gilberto as "guru", bossa-nova acquired a large following right away, comprised of young musicians, as well as fans, mostly young people, often college students. Later on, people of all ages and of all walks of life have also become admirers of the style.

Bossa Guitar

Watch out for my next post: How To Play Jazz and Bossa Guitar. i'll be giving tips, exercises and more tabs... enjoy!!! :)

Overview of Brazilian Music

Brazil is a country with musical variety as vast as its geography. Samba and Bossa Nova are known world-wide but there are many other musical styles that are also worth exploring as well. Samba can mean a lot of things in Brazil. There are the sambas de enredo, the theme songs of Rio's Carnival parades which feature the large percussion sections or batucadas marching with hundreds of singers and dancers in escolas de samba or samba schools. However, most recordings feature the samba-canc?or samba-song, best represented by prominent singers from the samba schools like Martinho Da Vila, Beth Carvalho, Paulinho da Viola, Clara Nunes and others, who record in the studio with the same percussion instruments (but fewer!) and add other instrumentation like a seven-string guitar, a ukelele-like cavaquinho and, in general, employ more sophisticated arrangements. Of course, the samba rhythm permeates many styles of Brazilian music and many popular singers include sambas in their repertoire, but the artists above sing Samba almost exclusively. We also recommend any of the samba collections in our catalog as a way to get familiar with the voices of Brazilian Samba, but Brazil Classics 2: O Samba has excellent liner notes to better acquaint you with the genre.
When Brazilian musicians like composer Antonio Carlos Jobim and guitarist Joao Gilberto heard the "cool jazz" of the U.S. in the late 1950s and adapted it to a gentler samba rhythm syncopated on the guitar the result was the reflective, romantic music called Bossa Nova. Bossa Nova has had a continuing influence on jazz artists all over the world as well as most Brazilian popular music since then. The most prolific and well-known composer of Bossa Nova was, of course, Antonio Carlos Jobim. His songs are a part of the repertoire of nearly everyone listed under this style in our catalog. The collaboration between Joao Gilberto and Stan Getz along with Astrud Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim yielded the 1964 album Getz/Gilberto (with it's hit single "Girl From Ipanema") that spread Bossa Nova throughout the world. Sergio Mendes continued that spread through the sixties with Brasil '66 and has re-emerged again in the nineties with recordings that have gone beyond Bossa Nova. Evidence of the lasting appeal of Bossa Nova is the recent compilation called "Red Hot + Rio" featuring international pop stars like Sting, David Byrne, George Michael and others performing distinctly modern interpretations of those wonderful Sixties bossa novas. But if you still like the originals try the recently released Novabossa collection which includes many of the gems of the era. Bossa Nova continues in Brazil today and one of our favorite recent Bossa Nova singers is Rosa Passos.
In the late 1960s musical influences outside of Brazil like Rock were having their influence upon Brazilian music and musicians, who, while remaining faithful to Brazilian rhythms and styles, were happy to experiment with new styles and instrumentation. So Brazilian popular music began to evolve into a wonderful hybrid of Samba, Bossa Nova, Jazz, Rock and regional traditional musics. The term used to encapsulate all these styles became MPB, an acronym for Musica Popular Brasileira. The first stars of MPB emerged during a time of political repression by the government and sometimes suffered censorship and even exile. They include singer-songwriters like Chico Buarque , Caetano Veloso, and Gilberto Gil. Chico Buarque is a singer, songwriter, and whose music is very samba-influenced. Caetano Veloso's lyrics are very poetic and his music is always expanding musical boundaries in Brazil. He is adored by several generations of Brazilian listeners.
Singer Milton Nascimento has yet another distinctive style influenced partly by the colonial region he is from, the state of Minas Geraes, and has a vocal range and depth of feeling in his music that transcends language barriers. Ivan Lins' and Djavan's music has a pop/jazz feel. Jorge Ben and particularly Gilberto Gil have a lot of African elements in their music. Female vocalists Maria Bethania, Gal Costa, and Simone are wonderful interpreters of the aforementioned songwriters and others. However, the late Elis Regina is often cited as Brazil's best female vocalist. There are many good MPB artists in Brazil, but start with one of these and go on from there. There is also a new generation of pop stars in Brazil worth checking out like singer Marisa Monte. We have included several compilations of Brazilian pop music in our catalog where you can get a feel for all of these artists. Excellent liner notes and lyric translations are included on Brazil Classics 1: Beleza Tropical and Canta Brazil:The Great Brazilian Songbook. Most of the songs on these compilations are from the late '70s and early '80s, a classic period, but if you want something a little more current try the compilation Melting Pop: Brazilian Groove with material mostly from the '90s.
Northeastern Brazil has a musical tradition based on the accordion accompanied by a zabumba (drum) and a triangle. The music has spread throughout Brazil as workers escaping the droughts and poverty of the North have migrated to jobs in the South. It was popularized in the 1940s by Luiz Gonzaga, whose hit "Asa Branca" became a regional anthem. Another hit "Bai? refers to one of the many rhythms of this dance music called forr??he songs previously mentioned are on a lovely tribute to Luiz Gonzaga by his son Gonzaguinha. However, the collection Brazil Classics 3: Forro, Etc. is probably the best place to get acquainted with this music. The music of the "nordeste" is also prominent in the music of MPB artists like Elba Ramalho, Alceu Valenca & Geraldo Azvedo.
Also in northeastern Brazil is the state of Bahia, cradle to many of the African traditions of Brazil including music. The most prominent styles in Bahia are styles that grew out of the Bahian carnival:bloco afro (drums and voices like the group Olodum) and afoxe; and a musical hybrid that grew out of those two styles called samba-reggae. Since a lot of artists from Bahia (Margareth Menezes, Timbalada, Daniela Mercury, Carlinhos Brown) mix these styles into their recordings we categorize all of this music under Bahia.
Brazil also has some wonderful instrumental music. The most common instrumental music is the choro that sounds kind of like ragtime with a samba rhythm. The instrumentation often includes a mandolin (listen to the wonderful re-mastered recordings of Jacob do Bandolim), flute or clarinet (Paulo Moura) , guitar and pandeiro (tambourine). There are also many musicians in Brazil who play predominately instrumental music which may have classical and jazz influences as well as any number of Brazilian styles. Probably the most well known of these are multi-instrumentalists/composers Egberto Gismonti & Hermeto Pascoal. Also, one cannot speak of instrumentalists without mentioning a few of Brazil's many fine guitarists like Baden Powell , Rafael Rabello, etc. who we list under guitar.

Mas Que Nada

Mas Que Nada
by Sergio Mendes

Oariá raiô
Obá Obá Obá
Mas que nada
Sai da minha frente
Eu quero passar
Pois o samba está animado
O que eu quero é sambar
Este sambaQue é misto de maracatu
É samba de preto velho
Samba de preto tuMas que nada
Um samba como esse é tão lega
lVocê não vai querer
Que ele chegue no final

Sitti's "Invisible War"

Invisible War

by: Sitti

Invisible war it seems we're waging an invisible war

Strained maneuvers keeping silent score

in this Invisible war,everyday I seem to lose you more

Both wishing that it was like before in this invisible war

Talk about a fine line between love and hate

We've lost more than our direction of late

Talk about a fine line between lovers and friends

We've never been lovers now we're not even friends

In this invisible war, it seems we're waging an invisible war

Everyday I seem to lose you more in this invisible war

Wounded deeply the scar is here to stay

Opening up the little things I do or say

You always want things to be as before

So I make you angry and you bleed a little more

In this invisible war, it seems we're waging an invisible war

Strained maneuvers keeping silent score in this invisible war

I wanna run away, and I still love you

I've got to be away, and I'll always love youI've got to find a way...time heals all wounds

Invisible war

At Seventeen

TITLE: At Seventeen
Version: Janis Ian
yung version nun kay Sitti sa G chord yata nila kinuha... adjust nyo na lang ung mga chords..

/ C - / Dm - / G7 - / C - / (2x):
I learned the truth at seventeenThat love was meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear skinned smilesWho married young and then retired
The valentines I never knewThe Friday night charades of youth
Were spent on one more beautifulAt seventeen I learned the truth

/ Eb - / Dm7 G7 / Cm7 Fm7 / // Ab G7 / Cm7 Fm7 / Dm7 - G7 - /
And those of us with ravaged facesLacking in the social graces
Desperately remained at homeInventing lovers on the phone
Who called to say, "come dance with me"And murmur vague obscenities
It isn't all it seems at seventeen
/ C - / Dm - / G7 - / C - / (2x):
A brown eyed girl in hand-me-downsWhose name I never could pronounce
saidPity, please, the ones who serveThey only get what they deserve
The rich-relationed home-town queenMarries into what she needs
With a guarantee of company and haven for the elderly
/ Eb - / Dm7 G7 / Cm7 Fm7 / // Ab G7 / Cm7 Fm7 / Dm7 - G7 - /
Remember those who win the gameLose the love they sought to gain
In debentures of qualityAnd dubious integrityTheir small town eyes will gape at you
inDull surprise when payment dueExceeds accounts received at seventeen
/ C - / Dm - / G7 - / C - / (2x):
To those of us who knew the painOf valentines that never came
And those whose names were never calledWhen choosing sides for basketball
It was long ago and far awayThe world was younger than today
And dreams were all they gave for freeTo ugly duckling girls like me
/ Eb - / Dm7 G7 / Cm7 Fm7 / // Ab G7 / Cm7 Fm7 / Dm7 - G7 - /
We all play the game and when we dareTo cheat ourselves at solitaire
Inventing lovers on the phoneRepenting other lives unknown
That call and say, "come dance with me"And murmur vague obscenities
At ugly girls like me, at seventeen

Sitti's Cafe Bossa (Lyrics and Chords)

I Didn't Know I Was Looking For Love

version: Sitti Navarro

INTRO: A-- G-- 2X

A

I was alone thinking I was just fine,

G

I wasn't looking for anyone to be mine

A

I thought that love was just a fabrication,

G

A train that wouldn't stop at my station

A

Home, alone, that was my consignment,

G

Solitary, confinement

A

So when we met, I was getting around you,

G....................................................................... A

I didn't know I was looking for love until I found you.

G....................................................................... A

I didn't know I was looking for love until I found you

G....................................................................... A

I didn't know I was looking for love until I found you

G

I didn't know I was looking for love

G

I didn't know I was looking for love

A

'Coz there you stood, and I would,

G

Oh I wonder, could I say how I felt and not be misunderstood?

A

A thousand stars came into my system,

G

I never knew how much I have missed them.

A

Slap, on the lap, of my heart you landed,

G

I was coy, but you made me candid,

A

And now the planets circle around you,

G........................................................................ A

I didn't know I was looking for love until I found you.

G........................................................................ A

I didn't know I was looking for love until I found you

G........................................................................ A

I didn't know I was looking for love until I found you

G

I didn't know I was looking for love

G

I didn't know I was looking for love

A

So we build from here with love the foundation

G

In the world of tears, one conselation

A

Now you're here and there's a full brass band

G

Playing in me like a wonderland

A

But if you left I would be two foot small

G

And every tear would be a waterfall

A

Soundless, boundless, I surround you

G........................................................................ A

I didn't know I was looking for love until I found you.

G......................................................................... A

I didn't know I was looking for love until I found you

G......................................................................... A

I didn't know I was looking for love until I found you

G

I didn't know I was looking for love

G

I didn't know I was looking for love