A self-taught guitarist and singer, Gilberto moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1950 and joined the vocal group Garotos da Lua ("The Boys of the Moon") as their lead singer. After a year and a half, he was kicked out of the group for his lack of discipline and spent the next several years in a marginal existence. Eventually, he found his way, creating a new way to express himself in voice and on the guitar. The result of his obsessive experiments became known as bossa nova.
Bossa nova is a refined version of samba, deemphasizing the percussive aspect of its rhythm and enriching the melodic and harmonic content. Rather than relying on the traditional Afro-Brazilian percussive instruments, bossa nova usually utilizes a drum set. João Gilberto often eschews all accompaniment, using only his guitar, which he uses as a percussive as well as a harmonic instrument. The singing style he developed is almost whispering, economical, and without vibrato. He creates his tempo tensions by singing ahead or behind the guitar.
This style, which Gilberto introduced in 1957, created a sensation in the musical circles of Rio's Zona Sul, and many young guitarists sought to imitate it. It was first heard on record in 1958 when João Gilberto accompanied singer Elizete Cardoso in a recording of "Chega de Saudade", a song by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes. Shortly after this recording, João Gilberto made his own debut single of the same song, followed by the 1959 LP, Chega de Saudade. The song became a hit, launching Gilberto's career and the bossa nova craze.
Besides a number of Jobim compositions, the album Chega de Saudade featured older sambas and popular songs from the 1940s and '50s, all performed in the distinctive bossa nova style. This album was followed by two more in 1960 and 1961, by which time the singer featured new songs by a younger generation of performer/composers such as Carlos Lyra and Roberto Menescal.
By 1962, bossa nova had been embraced by such North American jazz musicians as Herbie Mann, Charlie Byrd, and Stan Getz, who invited Gilberto and Jobim to collaborate on what became one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time, Getz/Gilberto. Through this album, Gilberto's wife, Astrud, became an international star, and the Jobim/de Moraes composition "The Girl from Ipanema" became a worldwide pop music standard for the ages.
João Gilberto continued to perform through the 1960s but did not release another studio album until João Gilberto en México, recorded in 1970 during a period of residence in Mexico. João Gilberto, aka the "White Album" (1973), featured hypnotic minimalist execution and is widely considered to be his best album. The year 1976 saw the release of The Best of Two Worlds, a reunion with Stan Getz, featuring singer Miúcha, sister of Chico Buarque, who had become Gilberto's second wife in April 1965. Amoroso (1977) backed Gilberto with the lush string orchestration of Claus Ogerman, who had provided a similar sound to Jobim's instrumental recordings in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As had been the case for all of Gilberto's albums, the album consisted mostly of Jobim compositions, mixed with older sambas and an occasional North American standard from the 1940s.
Having lived in the US since 1962, João Gilberto returned to Brazil in 1980. The following year saw the release of Brasil, with guests Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, who in the late 1960s had founded the Tropicalia movement, a fusion of Brazilian popular music with foreign pop. The 1991 release, João, with orchestrations by Clare Fischer, was unusual in its lack of even a single Jobim composition, instead featuring songs in English, French, Italian, and Spanish, plus old sambas and the solitary contemporary song "Sampa" (Caetano Veloso). Also released in 1991 was the album Canto Do Pajé by Veloso's sister Maria Bethânia on which Bethânia and Gilberto sing an intimate duet Maria/Linda Flor (Barroso, Peixoto, Vogler, Costa, and Pôrto) accompanied solely by his guitar. João Voz e Violão (2000) was an homage to the music of Gilberto's youth as well as a nod to producer Caetano Veloso.
Evenly interspersed with these studio recordings have been the live recordings, Live in Montreux; João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira; Eu Sei Que Vou Te Amar; Live at Umbria Jazz, and Live in Tokyo.
While all of Gilberto's albums since Getz/Gilberto have been released on CD, the first three domestic albums were released in 1988 by EMI on a single CD entitled The Legendary João Gilberto: The Original Bossa Nova Recordings (1958-1961). The disc also included three tracks from the singer's 1959 Orfeu Negro EP: "Manhã de Carnaval," O Nosso Amor, and A Felicidade, the latter two merged into a single medley track to fit within the recording time of a CD. After its release, Gilberto successfully sued to have the title removed from sale as an unauthorized release of his artistic works.
João Gilberto has long had a reputation as an eccentric recluse and a nearly neurotic perfectionist. He lives in an apartment in Leblon, Rio de Janeiro, refusing all interviews and avoiding crowds. He has been known to walk out on performances in response to an audience he considers disrespectful or out of theaters possessing acoustics below his standards, and at times demands that the air conditioning be turned off at concert venues. Yet he continues to perform to sell-out crowds in Brazil as well as in Europe, North America, and Japan.
Discography:
1959 - Chega de Saudade (Odeon)
1960 - O Amor, o Sorriso e a Flor (Odeon)
1961 - João Gilberto (Odeon)
1962 - The Boss of the Bossa Nova (Atlantic)
1963 - The Warm World of João Gilberto (Atlantic)
1964 - Getz/Gilberto (Verve)
1965 - Herbie Mann & João Gilberto (Atlantic)
1974 - João Gilberto en Mexico (PolyGram)
1976 - Best of Two Worlds (Columbia)
1977 - Amoroso (Warner Brothers)
1981 - Brasil (Warner Brothers)
1986 - João Gilberto Live in Montreux (WEA)
1991 - João (PolyGram)
2000 - João Voz e Violão (Universal)
2002 - Live at Umbria Jazz (Egea)
2004 - João Gilberto in Tokyo (Verve)
A Primeira Vez
João Gilberto Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Alimentei a ilusão de ser feliz
Eu era triste, sorri peguei no pinho e cantei
Tantos versos eu fiz em meu peito guardei
Um dia você partiu, meu pinho emudeceu
E a minha voz na garganta morreu
Procuro esquecer a dor, não sou capaz
Eu vivo triste a meditar
Não canto mais, meu consolo é chorar
A primeira vez que eu te encontrei
Alimentei a ilusão de ser feliz
Eu era triste, sorri peguei no pinho e cantei
Tantos versos eu fiz em meu peito guardei
Um dia você partiu, meu pinho emudeceu
E a minha voz na garganta morreu
The song "A Primeira Vez" by João Gilberto talks about the pain of losing someone and trying to cope with that feeling. The first time the singer met this person, he was hopeful and believed that he could finally find happiness. He was sad before but found joy and even wrote verses to express his feelings. However, when the person left him, his guitar suddenly became silent, and his voice felt trapped in his throat, unable to sing. He tries to forget the pain and move on, but it is difficult because he cannot play his guitar anymore. He lives with sadness, contemplating his life and finding solace in tears.
Line by Line Meaning
A primeira vez que eu te encontrei
The moment I first saw you
Alimentei a ilusão de ser feliz
I fed myself the illusion of being happy
Eu era triste, sorri peguei no pinho e cantei
Although I was sad, I smiled, took my guitar and sang
Tantos versos eu fiz em meu peito guardei
I wrote many verses in my heart and kept them safe
Um dia você partiu, meu pinho emudeceu
One day you left, and my guitar fell silent
E a minha voz na garganta morreu
And my voice died in my throat
Procuro esquecer a dor, não sou capaz
I try to forget the pain, but I cannot
Meu violão não toca mais
My guitar does not play anymore
Eu vivo triste a meditar
I live in sadness, meditating
Não canto mais, meu consolo é chorar
I do not sing anymore; my only comfort is to cry
Writer(s): Armando Marcal, Barcellow
Contributed by Kaelyn C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Madrugando Podcast
esse album so tem pedrada , o Joao gilberto é um mestre .,com ele as bossas criam mais sentimento ele pinta uma mundo complexo de sentimentos e emoçoes extremamente intrapessoais.
Cthulhu
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Usuário do Google
e a sua capacidade de resumir tão bem o que eu sinto dessa playlist desse gênio é uma pedrada do caramba também..
Edson Iván Pérez Guerrero
Canção de samba e bossa nova
Gxyz222
Beautiful.
Maria Victoria Abdalla
puta que o pariu essa musica eh muito foda
Edson Iván Pérez Guerrero
Morre bossa nova joao gilberto 1931/2019
Rodolfo Pérez Trejo
Teu coração de bossa nova
Carolina Perez
A primeira vez