The Sound
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22° 57' 58.4" S 43° 10' 40.2" W
Rio and its magical music:
The birthplace of bossa nova
Bossa nova – the sweetest temptation since the invention of music – was born in the centre of Rio. Emanating from three small pubs, the velvety tunes, among them the immortal ‘Girl from Ipanema’, took the world by storm. A return to the roots in Copacabana, where the guitars never sleep.
The music was outrageous. Warm and soft like the sea on our doorstep.
Sérgio De Martino describes what happened. ‘Three musicians invented the bossa nova, Antônio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto and Johnny Alf, whose real name was Alfredo José da Silva.’ No one knows for certain who was the first to grab a guitar and start breathing a new effortlessness into the music. In the late 1950s, Brazil was ruled by a socialist government and undergoing a burst of modernisation. Smack in the middle of this change, three gentlemen set off a wave that would engulf the entire world.
‘This is where they sat’, he says, pointing to the tiny stage. ‘They played and sang, and everyone listened as if bewitched.’ Musicians, celebrities, politicians, hundreds of people stood out on the street. They all wanted to hear it, a completely unfamiliar sound. ‘The music was outrageous. Warm and soft like the sea on our doorstep.’
Beco das Garrafas: live bands still play where music history was made
Beco das Garrafas: live bands still play where music history was made
Sérgio De Martino describes what happened. ‘Three musicians invented the bossa nova, Antônio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto and Johnny Alf, whose real name was Alfredo José da Silva.’ No one knows for certain who was the first to grab a guitar and start breathing a new effortlessness into the music. In the late 1950s, Brazil was ruled by a socialist government and undergoing a burst of modernisation. Smack in the middle of this change, three gentlemen set off a wave that would engulf the entire world.
‘This is where they sat’, he says, pointing to the tiny stage. ‘They played and sang, and everyone listened as if bewitched.’ Musicians, celebrities, politicians, hundreds of people stood out on the street. They all wanted to hear it, a completely unfamiliar sound. ‘The music was outrageous. Warm and soft like the sea on our doorstep.’
Beco das Garrafas: live bands still play where music history was made
Sérgio De Martino describes what happened. ‘Three musicians invented the bossa nova, Antônio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto and Johnny Alf, whose real name was Alfredo José da Silva.’ No one knows for certain who was the first to grab a guitar and start breathing a new effortlessness into the music. In the late 1950s, Brazil was ruled by a socialist government and undergoing a burst of modernisation. Smack in the middle of this change, three gentlemen set off a wave that would engulf the entire world.
‘This is where they sat’, he says, pointing to the tiny stage. ‘They played and sang, and everyone listened as if bewitched.’ Musicians, celebrities, politicians, hundreds of people stood out on the street. They all wanted to hear it, a completely unfamiliar sound. ‘The music was outrageous. Warm and soft like the sea on our doorstep.’
This music was the gentlest drum roll the world had ever heard. Everyone wanted a part of it, wanted to play like that. Wanted to live that beautiful, soft sound.
De Martino points to an old photograph of Antônio Carlos Jobim, the grandmaster of bossa nova. He had written the songs ‘Chega de Saudade’ and ‘Desafinado’, but they hadn’t yet become global hits. Musicians played them in Rio and Brasília, the melodies wafting across the beaches and through the nightclubs. But then something extraordinary happened: bossa nova met the brilliance of João Gilberto.
As a young man, he had played guitar in school bands, at festivals and weddings. Later, he earned a living doing odd jobs, but practiced tirelessly on the side. Gilberto’s chords had a particular transparency, his voice and guitar playing were like palm fronds dancing in the wind. When the hypersensitive musician recorded ‘Chega de Saudade’ in the summer of 1958, time stood still. ‘A minute and 59 seconds that changed everything’, Brazilian author Ruy Castro would later write.
João Gilberto’s whispered lyrics and delicate guitar playing were the gentlest drum roll the world had ever heard. Everyone wanted to be part of it, wanted to play like him. And live that beautiful, soft sound.
Then she came along, the garota, the ‘Girl from Ipanema’. Antônio Carlos Jobim wrote the piece and soon sang it live with Frank Sinatra. The world swooned.
The Brazilian composer Gastão Villeroy has his own approach to creating a new song. ‘I sing the melody’, he says. ‘No guitar, no piano, no accompaniment of any kind.’ With bossa nova, the melody is king. It has to be logical and sound absolutely natural. ‘In the end’, he says, ‘the song writes itself.’
The Brazilian composer Gastão Villeroy has his own approach to creating a new song. ‘I sing the melody’, he says. ‘No guitar, no piano, no accompaniment of any kind.’ With bossa nova, the melody is king. It has to be logical and sound absolutely natural. ‘In the end’, he says, ‘the song writes itself.’
The Brazilian composer Gastão Villeroy has his own approach to creating a new song. ‘I sing the melody’, he says. ‘No guitar, no piano, no accompaniment of any kind.’ With bossa nova, the melody is king. It has to be logical and sound absolutely natural. ‘In the end’, he says, ‘the song writes itself.’
No one wrote melodies like Antônio Carlos Jobim, the godfather of bossa nova. Jobim is a national hero in Brazil. Sacrosanct, almost like Pelé. They’ve even named Rio’s international airport after him: Aeroporto Antônio Carlos Jobim. A fitting testimonial. Flight. Becoming airborne. Jobim knew what that was like; his melodies had wings.
No one wrote melodies like Antônio Carlos Jobim, the godfather of bossa nova. Jobim is a national hero in Brazil. Sacrosanct, almost like Pelé. They’ve even named Rio’s international airport after him: Aeroporto Antônio Carlos Jobim. A fitting testimonial. Flight. Becoming airborne. Jobim knew what that was like; his melodies had wings.
Armando Pittigliani, now 89, also knows something about the magic. The bossa nova producer who helped create the wave explains it this way: ‘Bossa nova is the most beautiful thing we have. Why? I’ll tell you. It’s medicine. It’s the best heart medicine you can get in the whole wide world.’
Asked where he thinks the magic comes from, Flávio Mendes, another singer, guitarist, composer, says: ‘Bossa nova is like a tender caress.’ But a recipe? There’s no such thing. ‘If you listen to Gilberto, you’ll know why.’
No one wrote melodies like Antônio Carlos Jobim, the godfather of bossa nova. Jobim is a national hero in Brazil. Sacrosanct, almost like Pelé. They’ve even named Rio’s international airport after him: Aeroporto Antônio Carlos Jobim. A fitting testimonial. Flight. Becoming airborne. Jobim knew what that was like; his melodies had wings.
Armando Pittigliani, now 89, also knows something about the magic. The bossa nova producer who helped create the wave explains it this way: ‘Bossa nova is the most beautiful thing we have. Why? I’ll tell you. It’s medicine. It’s the best heart medicine you can get in the whole wide world.’
Asked where he thinks the magic comes from, Flávio Mendes, another singer, guitarist, composer, says: ‘Bossa nova is like a tender caress.’ But a recipe? There’s no such thing. ‘If you listen to Gilberto, you’ll know why.’
Armando Pittigliani, now 89, also knows something about the magic. The bossa nova producer who helped create the wave explains it this way: ‘Bossa nova is the most beautiful thing we have. Why? I’ll tell you. It’s medicine. It’s the best heart medicine you can get in the whole wide world.’
Asked where he thinks the magic comes from, Flávio Mendes, another singer, guitarist, composer, says: ‘Bossa nova is like a tender caress.’ But a recipe? There’s no such thing. ‘If you listen to Gilberto, you’ll know why.’
Bossa nova is the most beautiful thing we have. The music is like a balm. It’s the best heart medicine you can get in the whole wide world.
No one else made the music sound like silk. In his search for absolute beauty, Gilberto did nothing but play guitar, sing his verses and lose himself in harmonies, day and night. One day, he appears to have locked himself in the bathroom and played only for the tiles. Mister bossa nova, the most sensitive lonely heart of music history.
But perhaps there is a recipe after all. Perhaps all you need to do is to go down to the beach. To where the sea is and the palm trees rustle in the wind. Where the waves are so green. Where the sand is soft and life is warm. To the source of this whole Brazilian feeling for life.
All you have to do then is be able to play it.
No one else made the music sound like silk. In his search for absolute beauty, Gilberto did nothing but play guitar, sing his verses and lose himself in harmonies, day and night. One day, he appears to have locked himself in the bathroom and played only for the tiles. Mister bossa nova, the most sensitive lonely heart of music history.
But perhaps there is a recipe after all. Perhaps all you need to do is to go down to the beach. To where the sea is and the palm trees rustle in the wind. Where the waves are so green. Where the sand is soft and life is warm. To the source of this whole Brazilian feeling for life.
All you have to do then is be able to play it.
No one else made the music sound like silk. In his search for absolute beauty, Gilberto did nothing but play guitar, sing his verses and lose himself in harmonies, day and night. One day, he appears to have locked himself in the bathroom and played only for the tiles. Mister bossa nova, the most sensitive lonely heart of music history.
But perhaps there is a recipe after all. Perhaps all you need to do is to go down to the beach. To where the sea is and the palm trees rustle in the wind. Where the waves are so green. Where the sand is soft and life is warm. To the source of this whole Brazilian feeling for life.
All you have to do then is be able to play it.
Marc Bielefeld
Author
From a balloon to the desert, out to sea, into the ice: in twelve captivating reports and podcasts, the author describes fascinating places around the world and encounters with remarkable people.
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Jens Görlich
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Great moments, peaceful bliss, poignant scenes: the photographer from Frankfurt always has his camera ready to capture what words can’t express.
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Lufthansa
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Our suitcase cuts a good figure wherever it goes. It rolled easily across the hot pavement in Copacabana and had no trouble navigating the fine sand on Ipanema beach.
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