Bossa Nova means “new trend” in Portuguese. Born in the fifties, made big in the sixties, it took a Brazilian beach samba vibe, mashed it with smooth jazz, and became a new trend indeed.
If you hear it in the elevator now, you might think The Girl from Ipanema is trite. But then again, things have to become more or less universal to become trite. If you’ve a mind to, you can transport yourself to the time and place and circumstances of the ears hanging by the transistor radios and wonder what it would be like to hear Astrud Gilberto’s whisper and Stan Getz’ lounge saxophone for the first time. There was nothing like it. Compare it to the blattering roar of big bands, still abroad in the land from their heyday in the forties.
I’m not sure what the new trend is right now. I don’t try to keep up as much as if I was still performing, or even listening to popular records. But there’s got to be something out there. There always is. Maybe my children will invent it.
7 Responses
What a great video find! Thanks.
Poor Astrud looks so uncomfortable that you really feel for her. The little looks she sneaks at the camera almost say, "help me!" Although I have listened to these G/G tracks for years, I have never watched her sing before. It's a disturbing new dimension to her strange, ethereal sound.
UK,
Good point. It brings to mind that gag about a jazz musician awaking in Heaven, and an old pal comes by to show him the ropes.
"Is there music here?"
"Oh yeah, man, every night. Everybody's here, too. Diz, Bix, Bird, everybody, and we get to play with 'em."
"Wow, no wonder they call it heaven. This is perfect."
"Weeellll…."
"Whatsamatter, man? What could go wrong?"
"God knows this chick singer….."
Rob's joke reminds me of the rock version, where the newly departed is greeted in heaven by Jimmy Hendrix who explains in similar fashion all the legendary musicians he'll be jamming with. He goes to the stage, euphoric to see all of his idols already in place. Everyone from Jimmy to Buddy. Cobain to Orbison. "Wow, this IS heaven!"…Just then he turns to see Karen Carpenter take a seat at the drum-kit. "Close to You. 1, 2, 3, 4"
"Vibrato is for *ussies" -Astrud Gilberto (I'm pretty sure that's a direct quote…in my head at least)
-A
I haven't seen any evidence that UH has been working on any new music in QUITE A LONG TIME
(hint)
There's always a new trend,such as Tallis's 40 Part Motet.
Thanks for the memory.
I was in my early teen's when I heard this music on the radio and one day my father bought the LP album and bought it home. The cover had a girl wearing a bikini, shot from the rear. I hadn't seen a girl wearing a bikini in real life, and none of the girls in my school looked like that. I lay down on the rug in front of the stereo holding the album cover and listening.
Today when I hear that music (just the music, not the video) I see a girl in a bikini.
Ahm purty shure summa dem hs gurlz look like that, wit da B52 and all.