Bebel Gilberto (born Isabel Gilberto de Oliveira on May 12, 1966 in New Yor… Read Full Bio ↴Bebel Gilberto (born Isabel Gilberto de Oliveira on May 12, 1966 in New York City) is an American-born Grammy Award-nominated Brazilian popular singer often associated with bossa nova. She is the daughter of João Gilberto and singer Miúcha. Her uncle is singer/composer Chico Buarque. Bebel has been performing since her youth in Rio de Janeiro.

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.

Tanto Tempo
Bebel Gilberto Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Ando tanto tempo a perguntar
Porque esperar tanto assim de alguém
Percorrendo espaços no mesmo lugar
Não sei a quanto tempo estou a te buscar

Num segundo eu vou
Sabendo e percebendo o seu sabor
Sem ter medo estou

Correndo contra o vento sem nunhum rancôr

Ando tanto tempo a perguntar
Porque esperar tanto assim de alguém
Sem saber
Sem qualquer medo de vêr

So long

I've been wondering for so long
Why to expect so much from someone
Running through spaces in the same place
I've been searching for you a long long time

I am gone in a second
Knowing and learning your taste
Fearless I am
Running against the wind, holding no grudges

I've been wondering for so long
Why to expect so much from someone

Without knowing
Without any fear to see

Overall Meaning

Bebel Gilberto's "Tanto Tempo" consists of a few stanzas that express the singer's feelings of impatience and longing towards someone else. The first line, "Ando tanto tempo a perguntar" (I've been wondering for so long), signifies that the singer has been in this downward spiral for quite some time now, and the following line, "Porque esperar tanto assim de alguém" (Why to expect so much from someone), shows a sense of perplexity at why the singer is expecting so much from the other person.

The singer is trapped within his or her own head and feels like he or she is going around in circles, "Percorrendo espaços no mesmo lugar" (Running through spaces in the same place). The singer has been searching for the other person for a long time but does not know how long it has been, "Não sei a quanto tempo estou a te buscar" (I don't know how long I have been searching for you).

As the song progresses, the singer becomes more confident, "Num segundo eu vou/ Sabendo e percebendo o seu sabor" (I'm gone in a second/ Knowing and learning your taste), and becomes more aware of the other person. The singer is no longer scared and is "Correndo contra o vento sem nenhum rancor" (Running against the wind, holding no grudges). In the end, the singer is still wondering why he or she should expect so much from someone, but without any fear of seeing.

Line by Line Meaning

Ando tanto tempo a perguntar
I've been wondering for so long

Porque esperar tanto assim de alguém
Why to expect so much from someone

Percorrendo espaços no mesmo lugar
Running through spaces in the same place

Não sei a quanto tempo estou a te buscar
I've been searching for you a long long time

Num segundo eu vou
I am gone in a second

Sabendo e percebendo o seu sabor
Knowing and learning your taste

Sem ter medo estou
Fearless I am

Correndo contra o vento sem nenhum rancôr
Running against the wind, holding no grudges

Sem saber
Without knowing

Sem qualquer medo de vêr
Without any fear to see

So long
So long