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Bossa Nova (and 3)
7 Brazilian Bossa Nova Instruments
The instrumentation of bossa nova has remained relatively constant since its inception. The key instruments for bossa nova are:
- Classical guitar: Bossa nova features a nylon-string guitar played with fingers, not a pick. Bossa nova guitar is mostly a rhythmic instrument, with the guitarist playing harmonically dense yet repetitive chord progressions. Most bossa nova comping patterns rely on precise right-hand control. Nearly any Latin jazz guitarist will have the bossa nova pattern in their repertoire.
- Bass: A double bass is traditional in bossa nova, but some bossa nova ensembles use an electric bass guitar.
- Surdo: A large Brazilian bass drum that accents downbeats in bossa nova.
- Claves: Claves are wood sticks that play a clicking pattern similar to the son clave of Afro-Cuban music.
- Cabasa: A wood-and-metal shaker that plays a steady, unending sixteenth-note pulse.
- Drum set: Some bossa nova ensembles hold down their rhythm with a bass line and Latin percussion. Others employ a traditional drum kit.
- Lead instruments: Though not essential to samba music, lead instruments can include vocals, saxophone, flute, clarinet, trumpet, and other instruments from the American jazz tradition.
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Sergio Mendes
One of the biggest crossover Brazilian pop artists of his generation, Sergio Mendes helped define the sound of Latin pop and dance music in the 20th century. For most of the second half of the ’60s, Mendes was the top-selling Brazilian artist in the United States, charting huge hit singles like “Mas Que Nada” and LPs like Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 that regularly made the Top Five.
His records with his group Brasil ’66 regularly straddled the domestic pop and international markets in America, getting played heavily on AM radio stations, both rock and easy listening, and he gave his label, A&M, something to offer light jazz listeners beyond the work of the company’s co-founder, Herb Alpert. During this period, he also became an international music star and one of the most popular musicians in South America. Ever …
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Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Gil (born 26 June 1942) is a Brazilian singer, guitarist and songwriter, and the former Brazil’s Minister of Culture. Gil is best known for his late 1960s tropicalismo recordings, including “Roda”, “Lunik 9”, and “Domingo No Parque”. Elis Regina recorded many of his songs.
He began his career as a bossa nova musician, but soon began writing songs that reflected a new focus on political awareness and social activism, along with fellow singer Caetano Veloso.
In the 1970s, Gil added new elements of African andNorth American music to his already broad palette, and continued to release a steady stream of albums, including Realce and Refazenda. João Gilberto recorded Gil’s “Eu Vim Da Bahia” (“I Came from Bahia”) on his classic João Gilberto LP. In 1969, Gil and Veloso, whose status in Brazil was, and is, equivalent to that of John Lennon and Paul McCartney in the English-speaking world, were arrested by the military government of Brazil for anti-government activities.
Upon their release, the pair both moved to London. Gil began playing with groups like Yes, Pink Floyd and the Incredible String Band, while continuing his solo career. In the 1970s, he toured the US and recorded an English-language album. He worked with Jimmy Cliff and released in 1980 a cover of “No Woman, No Cry” (Bob Marley & the Wailers) that was a massive hit and introduced reggae to Brazil. Gil continued recording, performing and involving himself in various social causes, and was eventually elected to office in Salvador, his hometown, in the early 1990s.
His 1993 album with Caetano Veloso, Tropicália 2, featured a cover of a Jimi Hendrix song, “Wait Until Tomorrow”, and is regarded as one of his finest efforts since the late 1960s.
When President Lula da Silva took office in January 2003, he chose Gil to serve as Brazil’s new Minister of Culture. During Ministry, Gil released his songs “Refazenda”, “Rebento” and “Refavela” under the Creative Commons Sampling License.In May 2005 Gil was awarded the Polar Music Prize in Stockholm, Sweden.
He was the first Latin American recipient of the annual award, which was given to him by the King of Sweden. Gil also performed four songs in an outdoors concert the day before the award show and again at the show with only two songs, accompanied by Jimmy Cliff.
In September 2005, he was awarded the Légion d’honneur from the French Government. This coincided with the Année du Brésil en France(Brazil’s Year in France). His daughter Preta Gil is also a musician.
Gilberto Gil – Live at O2 Shepherd’s Bush, London. July 07, 2019
Caetano Veloso
Caetano Veloso (born 7 August 1942) is one of the most popular and influential Brazilian composers and singers. He was born in Santo Amaro da Purificação, Bahia, Brasil, the fifth of the seven children born to José Telles Veloso (“Seu Zezinho”) and Claudionor Vianna Telles Veloso (“Dona Canô”). His younger sister, Maria Bethânia, preceded him to fame as a singer in the mid-1960s.
He began his career singing bossa nova, and he has cited his greatest musical influences from his early period as João Gilberto and Dorival Caymmi. (João Gilberto would say later about Caetano’s contribution that it added an intellectual dimension to Brazilian popular music.) But with such musical collaborators Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Tom Zé, Chico Buarque, and Os Mutantes, and greatly influenced by the later work of The Beatles, developed tropicalismo, which fused Brazilian pop with rock and roll and avant-garde art music resulting in a more international, psychedelic, and socially aware sound.
Veloso’s politically active stance, unapologetically leftist, earned him the enmity of Brazil’s military dictatorship which ruled until 1985; his songs were frequently censored, and some were banned.
C̲a̲e̲ta̲no̲ V̲e̲lo̲so̲ – 1971 Greatest Hits – C̲a̲e̲ta̲no̲ V̲e̲lo̲so̲ (Full Album)
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