1	Arts The evocative sculptures of New Mexico artist Deborah Rael-Buckley. read more...
2	Film & TV Leonor Varela looks at the past and the future; Francia Raisa shoots for stardom. read more...
3	Music Brazil’s bossa nova remains fresh even as it celebrates its 50-year anniversary; the twin sisters who comprise Nina Sky are back with a new album and a fashionista vibe. read more...
4	Ask Julie How to find opportunities beneath the surface of this troubled economy. read more...
5	Calendar Noteworthy Hispanic events around the country in February and March. read more...

MUSIC

Still Bossa after all these years

The sexy sound of traditional Brazilian Bossa Nova celebrates its 50th birthday.

Kissed by the sun, caressed by the sea and blessed by an eternally youthful spirit, Brazil’s rhythmically lithesome bossa nova refuses to show its age. Unerringly sophisticated and sexy, the style that was born in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1950s remains every bit the breezy alternative to harder-edged pop music that it was when such bossa hits as The Girl from Ipanema went head-to-head on the radio with The Rolling Stones and other rockers. From its first stars to the fresh faces that populate the bossa universe today, the beguiling music’s come-hither vocal style and poetic lyrics have ensured its longevity.
In the past year, bossa’s remarkable legacy has been celebrated in Brazil and throughout the world through a tidal wave of new and reissued recordings, TV documentaries, books and academic discussions. Ruy Castro, the Brazilian author whose books Bossa Nova: The Story of the Brazilian Music That Seduced the World and Rio Bossa Nova are among the most important published works on the subject, says the style wasn’t invented by a small group of people as legend has it. “With popular music, it’s never that way—you can’t plan it,” says Castro of the music’s organic evolution. “Bossa nova was created by lots of people in several parts of Brazil who were after the same thing, but they didn’t know what it was. Many of them, for a variety of reasons, ended up moving to Rio where they continued to look for that modern thing, a new thing, a different thing.”
Among the most influential members of that pioneering generation of young musicians were composer Antônio Carlos Jobim, a native of Rio, and singer and guitarist João Gilberto, who hailed from a small rural town in the state of Salvador. Jobim provided the genre’s first important melodies, such tunes as One Note Samba and Desafinado, while Gilberto added his feathery vocals and distinctive guitar rhythms. The result was a radical makeover of the traditional samba, served up with a jazzy flair.
When the first bossa recordings began popping up on Brazilian radio stations, the response was one of amazement. “My first reaction was that bossa nova and especially João Gilberto was the most revolutionary sound I ever heard in Brazilian music,” recalls Zuza Homem de Mello, author of the recent history of the music, Eis Aqui Os Bossa Nova. “For me that would be the future. I was completely astonished but felt that it a sound we young musicians were expecting.”
Bossa’s global reach was vast. In the U.S., Jobim’s classics became pop hits on the radio, earning critical acclaim and Grammy awards. The style was embraced by dozens of leading jazz and pop instrumentalists and vocalists in the U.S., Europe, Japan and other nations. They produced hundreds of recordings, making compositions by Jobim, Luiz Bonfá and Marcos Valle, among others, some of the most recorded and performed songs of their time.
Among the hundreds of bossa recordings, both historic and contemporary, that are available today, some are undisputed classics that should form the core of any bossa collection. Jobim’s 1963 The Composer Plays (Verve) was the international debut of songs that would become prolific composer’s best known standards, including Meditation, Corcovado and Insensatez. In 1967, Jobim joined Frank Sinatra for a history-making effort, Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim (Reprise), while Wave (A&M), another 1967 project, is notable for presenting a collection of new standards-to-be, including the title tune and Triste. In 1974, Jobim collaborated with vocalist Elis Regina on the effervescent Elis & Tom (Philips), an album is widely considered to be among the most essential recording of either artist.
Before Jobim and João Gilberto went their separate ways, they collaborated on recordings that made bossa history. The most famous of their partnerships is 1963’s Getz /Gilberto (Verve), an effort that headlined tenor saxophonist Stan Getz and earned its place in history via the vocal version of The Girl from Ipanema by Gilberto’s wife Astrud. Amoroso (Warner Brothers) is a 1977 session by Gilberto that features bossa interpretations of an eclectic program that includes the Mexican bolero Bésame Mucho and George Gershwin’s standard ’S Wonderful. Among recordings by other artists from the music’s golden era are titles by such artists as Astrud Gilberto, Roberto Menescal, Carlos Lyra, Baden Powell, The Tamba Trio, Sergio Mendes and Nara Leão.
In recent years, a surprisingly diverse array of young artists has put their own distinctive stamp on the movement. Lisa Ono, a Japanese Brazilian, has produced an ongoing series of bossa-focused releases, including Minha Saudade (Nanã), a collaboration with legendary composer and pianist João Donato. Celso Fonseca, a singer and composer whose gentle approach pays homage to the style that João Gilberto pioneered over 50 years ago, has personally created a substantial body of new bossa works that radiate a fresh attitude while maintaining the sonic feel of the real thing. Juventude/ Slow Motion Bossa Nova (Dubas) is one of his several appealing recent releases. João’s daughter Bebel Gilberto has emerged as the most important star of the “new” bossa tradition. Her Momento (Six Degrees) proves that the venerable genre can accommodate and benefit from the introduction of such contemporary production techniques as sampled beats and judiciously employed electronic additives.
Three just-released projects provide further evidence that the bracing style is here to stay. Novas Bossas (Blue Note) features crooner Milton Nascimento in the company of the Jobim Trio, a unit that features the late composer’s guitarist son Paulo and grandson Daniel on piano. Singer and guitarist Rosa Passos demonstrates the ongoing relationship between samba balladry and bossa as she echoes João’s gentle touch on Romance (Telarc). And pianist and singer Eliane Elias focuses on vintage Jobim and Donato on Bossa Nova Stories (Blue Note), which features the São Paulo native’s hypnotic vocals and fluid keyboard work and provides the perfect synthesis of bossa nova’s inherent beauty and enduring appeal.

Ready For Their Curtain Call

The twin songstresses that comprise the R&B duo Nina Sky are back with a fierce album and fashionista vibe.

by Millie Acebal Rousseau

Natalie says she’s the shy one, and that most of the time, her sister does the talking. But that’s not the case today. In the lobby of a Miami Beach hotel, she’s dressed in black leggings and a grey sweatshirt, and her hair is up in a ponytail. With her stylist in tow— the duo performs in an hour and they have to get ready—she opens up about her career, her sister, and even dances to some samba as musicians play live in the background. The petite singer is cheerful and sweet.
“No one understands me more than my sister,” Natalie says. “She’s my best friend.” Together, the two make perfect harmony. Natalie writes most of the lyrics, while Nicole focuses on the musical arrangements. “It’s a team effort,” she adds. According to Nicole, Natalie will write the lead, and she’ll hear [compose] the background.