The daughter of a Brazilian mother and a German father, Gilberto was raised in Rio de Janeiro and moved to the USA in the early 1960s. In her mid-teens, she became part of (her own words) a "musical clan" when she met João Gilberto, whom she described as the clan's musical "guru". She married him a few months later, in 1959. She frequently sang duets with him, or sang while he accompanied her on guitar, and he acted as her musical tutor. She also sang publicly with her husband in a concert at the Rio de Janeiro Faculty of Architecture, but did not sing professionally at that time.
The couple moved to the United States in 1963, where she performed on the influential Getz/Gilberto album with João Gilberto, Stan Getz and Antonio Carlos Jobim. While rehearsing "The Girl from Ipanema", João asked her to sing a verse in English, and then persuaded Getz to include this in the final recording. Getz agreed, and Astrud's professional career began. After the recording Getz told Astrud it would make her famous, and was proved correct.
In the mid-1960s the couple divorced.
The success of Gilberto's vocal work on the song "The Girl from Ipanema" quickly turned her into a jazz star, and soon she started recording solo. She started as an interpreter of Brazilian bossa nova and American jazz standards, but started recording her own compositions in the 1970s.
Gilberto's recordings exposed the nations of the World to the sensuality of Brazilian music and to her unique vocal interpretations of American music, such as "The Shadow of your Smile", "It Might as well be Spring", "Fly Me to the Moon", "Look to the Rainbow" (from her album of the same title, with Gil Evans), "Love Story", etc...
Following the hit with "Ipanema", her recording career quickly took off. Her first solo effort, "The Astrud Gilberto Album", was an immediate best-seller and was itself nominated as album of the year. Her next albums were all chart-toppers and were released on a yearly schedule. Her talents were much in demand in other areas as well as she appeared in two motion pictures, "The Hanged Man" and "Get Yourself a College Girl" and also recorded the soundtrack for "The Deadly Affair", arranged by Quincy Jones. She made appearances in all of the popular US television shows of the time, and had TV specials built around her in Europe, Japan and Africa. For many years she was the voice of Eastern Airlines, having recorded award-winning commercials.
In the early seventies, Gilberto revealed another facet of her talents, her songwriting, which was introduced on the albums "Astrud Gilberto Now" (1972) and "That Girl From Ipanema" (1977). On the "That Girl from Ipanema" album, Gilberto recorded one of her songs, "Far Away" (with lyrics by Hal Shaper), as a duet with the legendary Chet Baker. As she has revealed in interviews, this was one of the most rewarding events of her career, since Baker had been one of Gilberto's idols dating back to her teenage years. In 1976, one of her compositions, "Live Today" (co-written with Jerome Schur), received an award at the Tokyo Music Festival.
In the early eighties, Gilberto formed a group, a sextet comprised of piano, bass, drums, trombone, guitar and percussion. Her son, Marcelo Gilberto, joined her group as bassist. With this group format, she toured Europe, Japan, Canada, and the United States. With the aid of Marcelo's valuable musical contributions, she polished the group's arrangements and entered a different phase in her career, as her music became more diversified and her songwriting more proliferous. Her shows, from the beginning of her career up to her last public appearance (2001), have been usually sold out and at many venues she has broken the house record in attendance. Seeking for a way to overcome her stage fright, which was sometimes overwhelming, Gilberto attended the Stella Adler School of Acting, for a couple of years, in the early eighties. The experience was helpful. Although still shy, Gilberto learned to control the stage fright to the extent that she can "live with it".
Her album "Astrud Gilberto Plus The James Last Orchestra", released in 1987, solidified her career as songwriter. The album includes a few of her own original compositions of which "Champagne & Caviar", "Amor e Som" and "I'm nothing without you" (Astrud's lyrics to A.C. Jobim's melody) are best known. The release of this album combined with the reissuing of some of her early records as CDs has created a whole new generation of fans for Astrud Gilberto all over the world, in addition to her already large number of followers. The "Astrud Gilberto Plus the James Last Orchestra" album was extremely well received by critics, as well as fellow artists.
In 1990, Gilberto, along with her sons Marcelo Gilberto and Gregory Lasorsa, formed Gregmar Productions, Inc. In the years that followed, Gilberto toured extensively, developing her live show and writing new material.
In 1992, Gilberto received the "Latin Jazz USA Award for Lifetime Achievement" for her outstanding contribution to Latin jazz music.
In 1995, the first project by Gregmar studios was released on an album as tribute to Jobim on the label Ps Flag/BMG ("Heirs To Jobim"). The song, "Forever Green", one of Jobim's last compositions before passing away, features saxophonist Michael Brecker. In that same year, in a sold-out Thursday night appearance, Astrud Gilberto became the first "Jazz" Artist to sing at the trendy "House of Blues" in Los Angeles, which had until then presented Blues and Rock acts, exclusively. She has also broken house records at the very popular "Jazz Cafe" club in London.
In early 1996 the first album from Gregmar was released in the Asian territories, including Japan, on the Pony Canyon label. It is comprised of various live performances recorded in NYC in 1989, for which is called "Astrud Gilberto - Live in New York".
The "Desafinado" duet with George Michael, in the Fall of 1996 included on the "Red Hot & Rio" album, gained international attention, and exposed the Bossa Nova style to a large number of Pop music fans. "Desafinado" has also been included on George Michael's 1999 release "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Best of George Michael".
Also in 1996, Gilberto recorded a duet with the famous European vocalist, French Pop star, Ettienne Daho. The song, "Les Bordes de Seine", included on Daho's "Eden" album, was co-written by Daho and Gilberto and was particularly well received by "Hip-Hop" fans.
In late 1997, a studio album (also by Gregmar Productions), produced by Astrud and Marcelo Gilberto, was released in the Asian territories by the Pony Canyon label. Comprised entirely of Astrud Gilberto's original compositions (with the exception of just one American standard), the album bears the title of "Temperance". Yet to be released outside of Asia, the album features guests Michael Franks and the New York Voices.
Gilberto's sold-out performances at the "House of Blues", and her legendary shows at NYC's SOB's continued to be musical "happenings" to her fans up until 2001, when she decided to take indefinite time off the "road", in order to be able to spend more time with her family, and do more writing and painting (she is also a fine art artist (click here to view some of her artwork).
Gilberto's style has been a strong influence in contemporary music. Many artists have revealed the fact that they have been inspired by her musical style, among them: Basia (who recorded a tribute to Astrud, a song named "Astrud"), Sade, Sinead O'Connor, Michael Franks, Pat Metheney, and Suzanne Vega. Several "avant-garde" groups have also professed having Astrud as their "inspiring muse".
Gilberto's work as songwriter has gradually but surely developed from a "side thing" in the beginning of her career, to an integral part of it, in the later years. Since the mid-eighties, her live shows featured a large number of her own original compositions, to which audiences have been just as receptive as they have always been to old standards such as "The Girl from Ipanema", "One Note Samba", or "Quiet Nights".
Gilberto's 2002 "Jungle" album release, is a showcase of her songwriting, as it features ten original new compositions.
In April 2002, Gilberto was inducted into the "International Latin Music Hall of Fame".
In November 2008, Gilberto was awarded by the Latin Recording Academy the "Lifetime Achievement" Grammy Award.
Maria Quiet
Astrud Gilberto Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Of slave Mogama and white man
My father slept in iron bed,
My mother on cold sand
When my father called
My mother would come
Never said a word
As if she were dumb
Is soon to lose her man
They say God made man first
And made a woman second choice
And so that's why woman should
Obey her master's voice
When the man is hungry
She bakes the bread
When man is cold
She warms up the bed
Standing up or laying down
The woman has to work
They say poor man wakes early
And he works until it's night
The rich man wakes up late
And tells the poor man what is right
So the poor prays to Shango up above
So the rich will lose the money they love
But rich or poor the woman has
To work for both of them
The song "Maria Quiet" by Astrud Gilberto reflects on the hardships and struggles faced by women, particularly those of mixed-race heritage who were born into slavery. The lyrics speak of the singer's origins, with a mother who slept on cold sand and a father who slept on an iron bed. The lyrics also touch upon the theme of gender inequality with a woman's role being to serve her husband, bake bread when he is hungry, and warm up the bed when he is cold. The song expresses the idea that women, no matter their status, whether they are poor or rich, always have to work, and it's a part of their existence.
The song also highlights the prejudice and discrimination faced by black men and women during the period of slavery. The song speaks directly to the challenges women faced at that time, and the song speaks to the idea that even though women have been second to men, it's the women who keep everything in the world moving, whether it be making bread or warming the bed. The song reminds listeners that women are strong, even in their silence, and their work is vital to the survival of society.
In conclusion, "Maria Quiet" portrays the oppression and suffering that women, especially women of color, went through in the past. At the same time, however, the song highlights the strength and endurance of women, who, from generation to generation, have shown resiliency in extremely harsh conditions.
Line by Line Meaning
They say that I was born
It is believed that I was born
Of slave Mogama and white man
Born to a father who was a white man and to a mother who was a slave named Mogama
My father slept in iron bed,
My father had comfort while sleeping in his iron bed,
My mother on cold sand
While my father slept in comfort, my mother slept on cold sand
When my father called
Whenever my father would call for my mother
My mother would come
My mother would obediently go to my father
Never said a word
She would not speak a word
As if she were dumb
As though she could not speak
A woman who will talk too much
A woman who speaks excessively
Is soon to lose her man
Will eventually cause her husband to leave her
They say God made man first
It is a belief that God created man first
And made a woman second choice
It is believed that God created woman as a secondary option
And so that's why woman should
Hence, it is believed that women should
Obey her master's voice
Submit to their husband's authority
When the man is hungry
In times of hunger for the man
She bakes the bread
The woman is responsible for baking bread
When man is cold
In times of cold for the man
She warms up the bed
The woman is responsible for making the bed warm
Standing up or laying down
Whether standing or lying down
The woman has to work
The woman has to engage in work
They say poor man wakes early
It is a belief that the poor wakes up early
And he works until it's night
And works until night falls
The rich man wakes up late
The rich man has the privilege to wake up later
And tells the poor man what is right
And tries to instruct the poor man on what is right
So the poor prays to Shango up above
The poor believes in Shango, and prays to the god above
So the rich will lose the money they love
Hoping that the rich man will lose the wealth they cherish
But rich or poor the woman has
Whether rich or poor
To work for both of them
The woman has to work for both men
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: NORMAN GIMBEL, CARLOS EDUARDO LYRA, VINICIUS DE MORAES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Denis Albaracin
Nasci lá na Bahia
De Mucama com feitor
Meu pai dormia em cama
Minha mãe no pisador
Meu pai só dizia assim, venha cá
Minha mãe dizia sim, sem falar
Mulher que fala muito perde logo seu amor
Deus fez primeiro o homem
A mulher nasceu depois
Por isso é que a mulher
Trabalha sempre pelos dois
Homem acaba de chegar, tá com fome
A mulher tem que olhar pelo homem
E é deitada, em pé, mulher tem é que trabalhar
O rico acorda tarde, já começa resmungar
O pobre acorda cedo, já começa trabalhar
Vou pedir ao meu Babalorixá
Pra fazer uma oração pra Xangô
Pra por pra trabalhar gente que nunca trabalhou
Matteo Now
Astrud, from bossa nova to hard rock! 😎😏🎶🎸🎙
Samuel Lloyd Drumming
HELL YEAH BROTHA
Gerardo Booth
Creative, innovative, original, and upbeat.
Putrid Abomination
I can't believe it's not Smoke one the Water.
On a serious note I'm here from that vid on Richie Blackmore's channel about songs that the band was inspired by. Love it and their influences.
Friedemann Kemm
The riff is featured even more prominently in the original version Maria Moita, where it carries the whole song.
Sarah Dickinson
Very cool song. Great beat and her voice is much better than when she did Girl from Ipanema which I also love. I will start looking for her records now.
topperdoggle
I came for Smoke on the Water, I stayed for the "Ah, Gilberto / Getz" moment, and those absolutely delightful smuggled peanuts.
Denis Albaracin
Nasci lá na Bahia
De Mucama com feitor
Meu pai dormia em cama
Minha mãe no pisador
Meu pai só dizia assim, venha cá
Minha mãe dizia sim, sem falar
Mulher que fala muito perde logo seu amor
Deus fez primeiro o homem
A mulher nasceu depois
Por isso é que a mulher
Trabalha sempre pelos dois
Homem acaba de chegar, tá com fome
A mulher tem que olhar pelo homem
E é deitada, em pé, mulher tem é que trabalhar
O rico acorda tarde, já começa resmungar
O pobre acorda cedo, já começa trabalhar
Vou pedir ao meu Babalorixá
Pra fazer uma oração pra Xangô
Pra por pra trabalhar gente que nunca trabalhou
Mateus
As a Brazilian it's way better than smoke on the water, don't know if you agree with me
Andrea.Isabel
I DO