Music / Styles A–Z / The Caribbean and Latin America · 24 of 35
Bossa nova
Bossa nova is a relaxed samba from the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro in the late 1950s and early 1960s: a calm, syncopated guitar that imitates a samba groove.
- Where and when
- South Zone of Rio de Janeiro, late 1950s
- Tempo
- Calm, relaxed samba
- Played on
- Nylon-string guitar, voice, light drums and percussion
What it is
Bossa nova is a relaxed style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro: a calm, syncopated rhythm on the guitar, with chords and fingerpicking that imitate a samba groove.
For the producer. João Gilberto's guitar reduces the samba percussion to one instrument: the thumb plays the surdo and the fingers phrase like a tamborim. Gilberto's way of singing samba, after Dorival Caymmi, was as new as the guitar. Its harmony overlaps with jazz, and many of its songs are now jazz standards.
The records that made it
From the lesson The Caribbean and Latin America, where the sources are listed · links open a search
- Canção do Amor DemaisElizeth Cardoso · Carried the first Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes songs in the style.
- 1959Chega de SaudadeJoão Gilberto · Consolidated the style.
- 1964Getz/GilbertoJoão Gilberto, Stan Getz and Tom Jobim · Won Grammy Awards.
Bossa nova in this month’s records
New releases the press we read wrote about, tagged bossa nova on MusicBrainz · updated with every build