Bossa Nova: A Brief Period of Musical Elegance

Rio de Janeiro was a gorgeous place in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1956 to 1961, President Juscelino Kubitschek put the country on a course to modernization that sent Brazil into the spotlight. In 1958, the Brazilian National soccer team won its first World Cup. The new national capital city of Brasilia was under construction. The times were bright and the future looked prosperous to the citizens. The emerging styles of music reflected the era perfectly. Three small, overcrowded clubs on a small alley street would be the setting for the birth of a new musical movement that blends Brazilian samba with the detailed harmonic concepts of bebop and the relaxed, smooth sound of West Coast cool players like Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan. Musicians in the Zuna Sul (Southern District) region of Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro favored jazz and American movies and would soon create a style of music that is best described as fresh, laid-back, and cool. Composers and musicians such as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfá, João Gilberto, and eventually Americans Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz gained celebrity status between the years of 1956 and 1965 in the movement known as Bossa Nova. <a href="https://medium.com/itsguitar/they-sang-of-waves-sailboats-flowers-blue-skies-and-most-of-all-women-4f6940231ff">Click Here</a>