At the age of seven, Bebel made an appearance on her mother's first solo album Miúcha. At age nine, Bebel performed with her mother and jazz saxophonist Stan Getz at a jazz festival in New York's Carnegie Hall. Back in Brazil, Bebel performed and recorded for the soundtrack of the children's musical Os Saltimbancos, written by Sergio Bardotti and Chico Buarque. Later on Bebel joined an experimental theatrical group and was a member of the founding team of the performance space Circo Voador (Flying Circus) at Ipanema Beach. In this group she met singer/songwriter Cazuza, who became a close friend and soon a major rock star in Brazil during the 1980s.
Throughout the 1990s, Bebel collaborated with a variety of musical stars such as Arto Lindsay, Thievery Corporation, David Byrne, Towa Tei, Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque. In 1996 Bebel was featured in the AIDS charity project Red Hot + Rio, produced by her close friend and collaborator Béco Dranoff. By the mid 1990s, Bebel also had successes as songwriter with the international dance hits "Technova" and "Batucada" in collaboration with producers Towa Tei and Arto Lindsay.
Bebel was featured on the soundtrack of Brad Anderson's film Next Stop Wonderland with Vinicius Cantuária and Mauro Refosco. In the late 1990s, Bebel moved to London where she began to develop the sound featured on her critically acclaimed debut album Tanto Tempo. During this period, she met Suba, the multi-talented Serbian producer living in São Paulo who ended up writing and producing several tracks on Tanto Tempo. While in London, she also worked with DJ/producer Amon Tobin, Dutch duo Arling & Cameron and singer Nina Miranda.
In 2000, Bebel's Tanto Tempo album was released on Ziriguiboom (Crammed Discs sub-label) and has sold over one million copies worldwide. The album was also nominated for two Latin Grammy Awards. Her second album, Bebel Gilberto (2004), was also released to great critical acclaim, receiving a MOBO Award in the UK and also a World Music Grammy nomination.
Also in 2006, Bebel started writing and producing the songs that would become part of her third album Momento, released in April 2007. On this album, Bebel collaborated with UK producer Guy Sigsworth, her friends Didi Gutman and Sabina Sciubba (from NY based band Brazilian Girls) and the Rio based Orquestra Imperial.
Gilberto's most recent album, All In One, was released in the US in September 2009 by jazz imprint Verve.
Port Antonio
Bebel Gilberto Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Vi o azul chegando
Me acordando
Me fazendo dormir de novo
E tanto, então sonhei
Com o que não queria mais ver
Pensando em tudo aquilo então
Uh . . .
E mergulhando
Nesse azul tão sonhado
Me encontrei de novo aqui
Em outro lugar
Que eu nunca tinha estado
Antes, nem antes
Nem em outra vida
Que nunca tinha estado antes
Antes em outra vida
Uh . . .
Eu sempre quis sonhar
Com essa melodia
Então puramente só
Cantar já
E tudo, tudo sempre
Vai ter um lugar . . .
The opening lines of Bebel Gilberto's song "Port Antonio," describe the beauty of nature, particularly the blue sky. The lyrics suggest that the singer has been awakened by the sight of the blue sky, which reminds her of her dreams. She then says that she dreamt of things she didn't want to see anymore. Despite this, she still finds herself drawn to the beauty of the blue sky.
In the next verse, the singer describes the feeling of diving into the "dreamed-about" blue water. She sees herself transported to another place, which she had never been to before. This place is a different life altogether with a different melody. The singer expresses contentment in this new place where everything has its rightful place.
Line by Line Meaning
Abrindo os olhos
As I opened my eyes, I saw the blue sea approaching, waking me up and making me fall asleep again.
Vi o azul chegando
I saw the blue sea approaching, filling my vision with its brilliance and captivating beauty.
Me acordando
It woke me up from my slumber, making me aware of the beauty of nature around me.
Me fazendo dormir de novo
The captivating beauty of the sea made me fall asleep again.
E tanto, então sonhei
I was so captivated by the sea that I started dreaming about something I didn't want to see anymore, reflecting on everything I had experienced till now.
Com o que não queria mais ver
I started thinking about things that I didn't want to see or revisit that made me feel uncomfortable.
Pensando em tudo aquilo então
Reflecting on everything, I started to realize the significance of life itself and what it means to me.
E mergulhando
As I dive into the surreal blue sea, I find myself transported to a different place altogether - one that I had never been before.
Nesse azul tão sonhado
The blue sea was so captivating and enticing, that it had become a dream of mine to experience such a sight, and now that dream had come true.
Me encontrei de novo aqui
As I dive in, I find myself once again - this time in a new place that I had never seen before.
Em outro lugar
This was a place that was completely new to me, one that I had never imagined existed.
Que eu nunca tinha estado
This was a place that I had never been to, a completely new experience for me.
Antes, nem antes
I had never experienced anything like this before - it was a completely unique and new experience.
Nem em outra vida
This was a one-of-a-kind experience that I had never experienced before, even in any of my previous lives, if any existed.
Eu sempre quis sonhar
This was a dream that I had always wanted to live - an experience that I had always wished for.
Com essa melodia
The melody of the sea resonated in my mind, filling me with tranquility and peace.
Então puramente só
In this moment, I felt pure solitude - a moment that belonged only to me and the beauty that surrounded me.
Cantar já
And so, I let my voice fill the air, singing to the melody of the sea.
E tudo, tudo sempre
No matter what happens, everything has its own place and its own time in life.
Vai ter um lugar . . .
Everything in life falls into place - sometimes as expected, sometimes not - but always fitting itself into the story of our lives.
Contributed by Kylie J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.