What is bossa nova. Causes of the bossanova style

1. Combination of Brazilian folklore with jazz and European harmony. Synthesis - the rhythm of the Brazilian samba combined with jazz improvisation in the style of "cool" (i.e. "jazz-samba", "ice and fire"), besides, Jobim applied in bossanov harmony french impressionist Claude Debussy. And this music called "bosanova" ("new wave", "something new") became extremely popular in the USA, and soon it swept all of America and Europe like wildfire, because it combined and irresistibly attracted swing, melody and poetry.

2. The crisis of jazz styles associated with swing, triplet pulsation and the crisis of jazz harmony Listeners were tired of aggressive, triplet timing, which is why the appearance of the bossa nova with its duo pulsation was received with such enthusiasm. Also, the listeners got fed up with the jazz harmony built on 2-5-1 quarter turns, and they enthusiastically accepted the bossanova harmony, in which, in addition to fourth turns, thirds appear (from the arsenal of the impressionist Debussy), as in the theme bridge "The Girl From Ipanema".

3. Penetration of Latin American dances into America. In the United States, the ground for bossa nova was prepared by popular dances that came out of South America: tango, rumba, begin, cha-cha-cha, calypso, son, merengue, mambo and samba. In the 50s in America and Europe, the mambo style and dance gained immense popularity - both in jazz and in popular music. It was a dance of Latin American origin, which was a kind of fast rumba in 4/4 musical time. The "king of mambo" in the United States was the head of the dance orchestra Perez Prado (1916-1989), a Cuban by birth. But since many American cool musicians then regularly toured with concerts around the world, including South America, they became intimately acquainted with Brazilian samba there.

4. Appearance of Latin American percussion instruments (percussion) in jazz instrumentation. Dizzy Gillespie created a style of Afro-Cuban jazz. He was the first to take the Cuban percussionist C. Pozo into his band. The combination of Latin rhythms with bebop harmonies was called "cubop", or Cuban bop.

5. Collaboration with American jazz stars. Bosanova would not have been born if Stan Getz had not taken part in its creation. Not only did he decorate all Jobim's songs with his solos and backing tracks, it was he who persuaded the wife of the guitarist Juan Julberta - Astra, who prepared coffee for men at the rehearsal, to record vocals. In February 1962, Goetz and Bird recorded their first disc, which was called "Jazz Samba", and in the same year they received a Grammy Award for it, and in March 1963, Stan Goetz recorded in New York bossanova's most famous album with the Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto and A.K. Jobim himself at the piano. In the future, it would be difficult to name such a jazz or popular artist who would not record bossa nova themes. In addition, Jobim J. Maligan did a lot to promote the music in the USA.

6. The emergence of bossanova geniuses. The most outstanding personality among bossa nova composers was, of course, Antonio Carlos Jobim (1927-1994), who almost single-handedly created all the hits of the style and the guitarist João Gilberto. Bosanova's first recording is considered to be the song "Enough to be sad" ("Chega de Saudade") in 1958, composed by Jobim and performed by João Gilberto. Bosanova is often erroneously considered an Afro-Brazilian "invention" when it is a relatively recent genre created primarily by white beatnik musicians and poets.

7. The appearance of bossa nova hits.The Girl From Ipanema, Desfinado, Corcovado.

The origin of the name "bosanova" (literally bossa - "bump", "mound", "hump"; nova - "new") is associated with the Brazilian slang word "bossa", which was fashionable in the late 1950s, which meant about the same as Russian word "chip": feature, bright feature. Thus, the name of the genre should be understood not literally (“new hump” or “new bump”), but essentially: “new “trick””, “new style”.

In rhythmic terms, the southern part of the New World has significantly influenced all popular (and jazz) world music in our century and has given it a lot in terms of rhythm. For a century, and besides - on the pop stages of the world, and among American performers - saxophonist Stan Getz and guitarist Charlie Bird.

If you ask me what bossa nova is, I will probably answer the question with a question: "What is a dream?" Indeed, how to talk about music, in which, like in a mirror, all our romantic ravings about friendship without ulterior motives, success without prepayment and love without regard to public opinion are reflected? I'm not talking about the dream of visiting the Wonderful City - yes, that's exactly what (Cidade maravilhosa) the Brazilians call their former capital! - walk along the tropically sun-drenched avenida Atlântica 1) , sunbathe on Cabo frio 2) , where the sand is almost as white as Russian snow, invite a friend to one of the countless summer cafes, which is always full of people: Oi, pessoal! Calor, ne? Tá bom, pra mim um chope, e pra minha amiga ...hmmm... o que quer, Luisinha?..

So, let's fill out a short questionnaire. First of all, the Name: bossa nova - what does it mean? It is well known that the Portuguese bossa translated into Russian as "bump", "knoll" or, I'm not afraid of this word, "hump". But what do all these concepts have to do with such world-famous tunes as "The Girl from Ipanema" and "I Live Dreaming"? It turns out that the most immediate: in the late 1950s bossa was a fashionable slang term that roughly corresponded to our native "trick". When they said about someone: he, they say, tem bossa(has a bump), it was implied that he could drive a car, play the guitar or fix radios better than anyone else. In this way, Bossa Nova literally means "New Bump", but in essence - a new musical direction, the brightest, the most avant-garde and, in general, the most-most of all possible.

Let's go further. Place of Birth. Bossa nova was born in Rio de Janeiro, the same city where "a million and a half people walk around in white pants", more precisely, in Ipanema, a dazzlingly beautiful residential area with a fairly wealthy population. Initially, it was just an outlandish mixture of traditional Brazilian samba rhythms with classic American jazz motifs, performed at parties and home concerts for an educated audience. How pleasant it must have been to listen to this slightly sad lyrical music in some luxurious apartment on the tenth floor, slowly sipping beer from the refrigerator (vodka is not very respected in Brazil - the climate is not the same) and with half an eye watching how the juicy colors of the southern evening and right from the ocean, which splashes very close, a hundred meters from the house, a hot lilac-black night rolls in a wave. However, bossa nova soon ceased to be "music for the elite" and sounded in clubs, art cafes and just on the streets of Brazilian cities. A whole galaxy of talented authors, among which Tom Jobim, Luis Bonfa, João Gilberto and Baden Powell, especially stood out, quickly achieved universal recognition.

And finally, the date of birth. It is believed that the first successful bossa nova was "Canção do Amor Demais", recorded by Elizet Cardoso and João Gilberto in 1958. The very first real hit, thanks to which bossa nova crossed national borders, was the unforgettable "Garota de Ipanema" by Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Morais. World hits were also "Insensatez" ("Recklessness") and "Corcovado" 4) ("Corcovado"). Suddenly falling on the head of a Western layman, the "new bump" opened his eyes to the fact that in addition to rock and roll, there is a lot of other wonderful music in the world. Already in 1962, New York's Carnegie Hall applauded her, at the same time the first discs appeared in Europe. By the early 1970s, bossa nova had become, one might say, the hallmark of Brazilian pop music (MPB), and even today, when artistic tastes have changed significantly, it has not lost its significance as an international pop classic, as evidenced by the constant interest in it. in various countries of the world, including Russia. I remember with what admiration I first heard one of Jobim's masterpieces - "I loved once" - performed by Nikolai Gromin and Alexei Kuznetsov on two electric guitars. It was in 1981 or 1982, I don't remember exactly; Soviet critics then considered many genres of Western music ideologically harmful, but apparently made an exception for bossa nova. In Brazil itself, despite the fact that the "girl from Ipanema" today must be already under 60, bossa nova still sounds at concerts, on the radio, on television, and it sounds, I must say, quite modern: remember at least the Corcovado theme, chosen as the screensaver for the series "Family Ties".

Notes

1) Atlantic Avenue, one of the most impressive streets of Rio de Janeiro near the sea.
2) Cold cape.
3) "General hello! It's hot, huh? Okay, for me - a beer, but for my girlfriend ... hmm ... what do you want, Luisinha?"
4) A hill in Rio de Janeiro, on which a giant statue of Christ the Redeemer by P. Landowski (1931) is installed.

Oleg Andreev, June 2004

Bossa nova causes enough controversy as to where this type of Latin American jazz originated. Only one thing is known for sure - the bossa takes its origins in the rhythms of samba, but swaying body movements are not all that this subspecies of Latin American jazz can be proud of. No less beautiful vocal and instrumental bossa nova albums were presented to the world by outstanding jazz performers. Six of them we present to you as the most famous and must-listen.

Best bossa nova albums

O Amor, o Sorriso e a Flor – João Gilberto (1960)

The bossa nova album O Amor, o Sorriso e a Flor by Brazilian guitarist, composer and songwriter João Gilberto was released in 1960. In Russian, the name sounds like "Love, smile and flower."

AllMusic reviewer Richard Guinell described the record to Gilberto: "This is a vital bossa nova record by João Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim. Some of the standards - One Note Samba, Corcovado or Meditation - were first heard in North America on this album."

Quincy Jones – Big Band Bossa Nova (1962)

The album Big Band Bossa Nova is a recognized masterpiece in the discography of Quincy Jones. The composition Soul Bossa Nova by the American jazz impresario became a hit and the title soundtrack for many films and TV shows, including modern programs.

The record saw the light after the popular Desafinado, on the wave of success for which the passion of the bossa nova audience warmed up. At the same time, it is widely believed that the album turned out to be danceable and more suitable for American cocktail parties than for a walk along the Brazilian coast.

Soul Samba - Ike Quebec (1962)

American saxophonist Ike Quebec recorded the album Soul Samba in 1962 and released it on the Blue Note label. This release was the last of Quebec's discography until his death in January 1963.

Jazz historian Scott Yanow called the album "a subtle combination of soft jazz undertones and unobtrusive bossa nova rhythms". The album was recorded at a time when the musicians themselves begin to show interest in the boss. So far there has been no talk of this music being played in every bar.

It is noteworthy that all the artists of the 1960s who recorded bossa nova albums participated in the popularization of the genre. Light music, interesting to young people, opened the door to the big world of Latin American jazz trends.

Samba Esquema Novo – Jorge Ben Jor (1963)

Samba Esquema Novo is the debut of Brazilian guitarist Jorge Ben Jora, who combines samba, bossa nova and funk rock in his work. This disc includes the original recording of the world famous hit Mas, que Nada. According to Rolling Stone in Brazil, Samba Esquema Novo was included in the list of the 100 best albums in the history of Brazilian music.

Ben Jora's album is replete with Latin American rhythms and captures the listener with its rhythm of rock elements and melodies on percussion. Listening to this 1963 release is like a musical adventure, in which each composition is a stop with a new mood and events.

Getz/Gilberto – Antonio Carlos Jobim and Stan Getz (1964)

The best bossa nova albums are also, perhaps, the most famous record of Brazilian guitarist Antonio Carlos Jobim and American saxophonist Stan Getz Getz/Gilberto, recorded in 1964. The union of these two musicians in itself makes goosebumps run through the body. Jazz critics call the album Getz/Gilberto a symbol of the resurgence of interest in bossa nova in the United States.

In addition, this release was the first to win a Grammy, with the performance of non-American musicians. Most of the songs on the album were written by Jobim. The Getz/Gilberto record became the best-selling in the history of the genre, and Astrud Gilberto, who sang the famous "Girl from Ipanema" (The Girl from Ipanema), became a famous Brazilian jazz singer.

Brazilian pianist Sergio Mendez experiments with funk, jazz and bossa nova on a 1966 record. This release was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011 as a Significant Cultural Legacy of Brazilian Jazz.

Sergio Mendez presents a wonderfully melodic "musical formula" on this album. A duet of female voices singing in English and Portuguese and a male vocal trio are combined with jazz arrangements of carefully selected lyrical melodies.

Many modern fans of music and dance have heard of such a thing as "bosa nova". It comes from sunny Brazil, where carnivals are held every year. However, this musical style, unlike the traditional samba, has received its development relatively recently. And not everyone knows on what basis this style was created at one time.

Bosanova - what kind of style of music is this?

In general, just like all other Latin American styles of music, bossa nova, precisely as a style of music, involves a combination of jazz harmonicas with national rhythms.

It is not surprising that in the music itself, one can most often find dimensions that seem to be even (say, 4/4 or 2/4), but with a clear share of the so-called swing (shift of beats), when all kinds of syncopations are present in the rhythm part, moreover, as it seems to many, in the most inappropriate places for this. It is not uncommon to find triplets in each measure, which automatically brings the composition to 12/8. Sometimes you can even hear completely non-standard sizes like 7/8 or 9/8.

More broadly, bossa nova is the sister style of salsa, samba, rumba, and bayau. And, as is already clear, this music is inextricably linked with dance schools (however, like all other Brazilian offshoots). The Brazilians themselves cannot imagine the sound of music without certain movements in the dance.

Music and dance are one inseparable

If you look at the musical essence of the style, it is not difficult to predict that bossa nova is both a style of music and dance.

The movements, as in all other dance schools, are refined and graceful, the choreography emphasizes the softness and flexibility of the body. What is most interesting, bossa nova can be danced both in pairs and independently, without a partner or partner. Although there is a basic set of movements that focuses on the movement of the legs, arms and hip joints, there are as many variations in the dance as you like.

In this sense, bossanova is closely intertwined with other Latin American dance styles, but it has become most popular in Brazil and Cuba.

History of occurrence

Some mistakenly believe that bossanova is a style that appeared solely under the influence of African settlers in South and Central America. By no means!

The very style of bossanova music emerged only in the 50s of the last century, at the junction of jazz and national traditions. Then it was called bossa nova, which could be interpreted as "new style" or "new feature". True, at first such music was played only at home concerts held in Rio de Janeiro, when the musicians tried to combine traditional Brazilian samba with American jazz. Actually, jazz gave bossa nova those very non-standard musical dimensions.

brazilian bossa nova

Now a little about the homeland of this trend. Since its inception, the bossanova style has received the greatest development in the 60s, when many performers took the canons of the new direction as a priority.

However, one should not forget that even world ballroom dance festivals today include tango, salsa, cha-cha-cha, and bossanova in their mandatory program. Brazilian dance technique is not available to everyone. According to the inhabitants of this country themselves, you need to be born a Brazilian in order to have a tendency to perform all movements from childhood.

Even the annual carnivals, despite the fact that they are predominantly represented by samba schools, are not complete without the bossa nova. It seems to organically fit into the mainstream, and sometimes even prevails. And in general, it is very difficult to draw any clear line in these dances and music, because the national color often involves the use of completely different elements from the same different dance schools and musical directions.

The most famous performers

In the 50s, no one was left indifferent to the new style. It was a bossa nova. The performers tried (as it seemed at that time) to combine the incompatible. Nevertheless, the starting point is considered to be the release of the play “Enough to be sad” (Chega de Saudade), and then the composition “The Girl from Ipanema”. The godfathers of the new direction were Juan Gilbert and António Carlos Jobim.

In 1958, building on the success of the new style, Jobim, together with Elizet Cardozo, recorded the album "Song of Love Too Strong", where quite a lot of hits were presented. Apart from "The Girl from Ipanema", the song "Recklessness" ("Insensatez"), with which in 1962 Jobim and V. di Morais conquered the famous "Carnegie Hall" in the USA, can be separately noted. By the 1970s, bossa nova had firmly taken the place of the hallmark of Brazilian music.

Modernity

Unfortunately, today bossa nova as a style of music is used only in dance schools, and modern performers can only be found in Latin American cafes. The professional scene, like popularity, remains only in memories. It's a pity. After all, bossa nova is very bright music, conveying subtle shades of the soul and human experiences, sometimes overwhelming emotions, joy and sadness, love and jealousy. And if all this happens in tandem with the dance, the degree of tension generally rolls over.

But here's what's interesting. Even manufacturers of musical instruments like Yamaha or Casio, who produce keyboard synthesizers with auto accompaniment, without fail include bossanova in its various interpretations in the set of styles.

And all this only says that the bossa nova has become a kind of classic in music, without studying and understanding which is indispensable in modern art.

Bossa nova (bossa nova) is a fairly new style of Brazilian music that combines jazz harmonica and local rhythms (especially samba). The very name "bossa nova" is associated with the Brazilian slang word "bossa", which was fashionable in the late 1950s, which meant about the same as the Russian "chip" (feature, bright feature). Thus, the name of this musical genre is translated as "new feature" or, literally, "new style".

Initially, bossa nova was performed at parties and home concerts in Rio de Janeiro, in the Ipanema area (a place where wealthy people live). However, soon, it ceased to be only "music for the elite" and sounded in clubs, art cafes and just on the streets of Brazilian cities.

Although in the late 50s a whole galaxy of talented composers and performers of bossa nova appeared (among which Joao Gilberto, Luis Bonfa and Baden Powell stood out), Antonio Carlos Jobim (pseudonym Tom Jobim) is considered to be the founder of the musical style.

The bossa nova can be traced back to the first recording of the song "Stop being sad" ("Chega de Saudade"), written by Tom Jobim and performed by his friend Joao Gilberto in 1958 in Rio de Janeiro. The first successful bossa nova was the album Cancao do amor demais, a song of too much love, recorded by Eliset Cardoso and Joao Gilberto in 1958. And the real hit, thanks to which bossa nova crossed national borders, was the world-famous “Girl from Ipanema” (“Garota de Ipanema” or “The Girl from Ipanema”) by Tom Jobim. The songs “Corcovado”, “One Note Samba”, “Desafinado” (“Desafinado”) also became other world hits and real jazz standards.

Just a few years later (in the early 60s), bossa nova was fixed in the top lines of the American hit parade, and by the early 70s it had become the hallmark of Brazilian music all over the world. In the music and lyrics of Tom Jobim, romantic love and unrequited female beauty are clearly traced. Many of the songs were named after female names: "Teresa da Praia" (Jobim's first wife), "Ligia", "Luiza", "Izabella". “Every woman that I don’t have is a song that I write,” Jobim will say one day. Perhaps that is why there is some special intimacy and sincerity in the gentle harmonies of the bossa nova.

Another of the fathers of bossa nova (Joao Gilberto) believed that only a female vocalist can convey this mixture of musical richness and melancholy, which, in essence, is the heart of bossa nova music. Therefore, vocalist Astrud Gilberto (wife of Joao Gilberto) became the most prominent of the leaders of the "bossa nova" culture to the West. The modest charm of her voice, simple, without unnecessary vibrations, the performing technique captivated listeners all over the world. Until now, her restrained and breath-like style of performance remains the hallmark of the Brazilian bossa nova.

Unlike previous forms of Afro-Cuban music (such as rumba or mambo), bossa nova did not become explicitly dance and entertainment music, if only because it was exported from Brazil and became the main jazz players.

Bossa nova has acquired the character of concert and club music for music lovers due to its more refined harmony, refined melody and calm rhythm. The fashion for the so-called jazz boss (Jazz-bossa) began. This beautiful, delicate music with unusual (but close to jazz standards) harmonies became, in a sense, a counterbalance to the main trends in the development of jazz in the early 60s.

The graceful, refined, emotional melodies of Jobim became a real alternative to traditional jazz for jazzmen of the 60s. Bossa nova was a kind of softening agent, becoming an attractive moment in the struggle of jazz for survival in the mid-60s.

The 1960s saw an unforgettable series of collaborations with Frank Sinatra (beginning with the Sinatra/Jobim album). In them, the restrained elegance of Jobim's music forced Sinatra to soften his craving for pathos of performance. “The last time I sang so tenderly was when I was sick with laryngitis,” Sinatra admitted at the end of the recording.

While in the Western world (beginning in 1961) a “bossa nova boom” began, in the Soviet Union Brazilian music was treated ambiguously. The party leadership of the USSR condemned bossa nova as anti-Soviet music "imported by the CIA from Brazil to boycott cha-cha-cha in fraternal Cuba." Alexei Kozlov's quintet was the first to play bossa nova in the USSR. They regularly performed at the Molodezhnoye Jazz Cafe (Moscow), which, by the way, was organized with the support of the Komsomol Committee. Visiting foreigners were often brought to Molodezhnoye to show that we also have jazz. In 1963, Alexei Kozlov composed a theme, which at first he called "Koza-nova" (changing the word bossa-nova). But when an unexpected opportunity arose to record her disc, in order to overcome censorship, Shostakovich himself had to intervene, who gave the go-ahead as the head of the Union of Composers of the RSFSR. But the work itself received a more official name, Our Bossanova. She appeared on a flexible record, as an appendix of the magazine "Krugozor".

Bossa nova is the brightest music in the world. It evokes the best and most pleasant human feelings and encourages us to dream. Listening to bossa nova, you immediately find yourself somewhere on Ipanema, watching how the juicy colors of the southern evening slowly fade over the evening Rio de Janeiro, and a warm lilac-blue night rolls in a wave right from the ocean. People need beautiful music. So the boss is always new!!!