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)
Morena Boca
João Gilberto Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
O teu jeitinho é que me mata
Roda morena, vai não vai
Ginga morena, cai não cai
Samba, morena ele desacata
Morena uma brasa viva pronta pra queimar
Queimando a gente sem clemência
Ginga morena, cai não cai
Samba morena, com malemolência
Meu coração é um pandeiro
Gingando ao compasso de um samba feiticeiro
Samba que mexe com a gente
Samba que zomba da gente
O amor é um samba tão diferente
Morena samba no terreiro
Pisando vaidosa, sestrosa
Meu coração, morena, tem pena
De mais um sofredor que se queimou
Na brasa viva do teu amor
The lyrics of João Gilberto's song "Morena Boca de Ouro" depict the agony and desire of the singer towards a woman with a golden mouth. The woman's voice and mannerisms are depicted as a killer of sorts, the very things that make the singer suffer. The repetition of the phrases "roda morena" and "ginga morena" emphasize the sensuality and movement of the woman, whose samba is both enticing and dangerous.
The lyrics also suggest the power dynamic between the two, with the woman being described as a "brasa viva pronta pra queimar" (a live ember ready to burn). The singer's heart is likened to a pandeiro, a type of tambourine, which is moved by the beat of the "samba feiticeiro" (sorcerer's samba). The samba is portrayed as a force that can both enchant and mock us, and love is equated to a samba that is different from our expectations.
Line by Line Meaning
Morena boca de ouro que me faz sofrer
Dark-skinned woman with a golden mouth that causes me pain
O teu jeitinho é que me mata
Your way of doing things is what kills me
Roda morena, vai não vai
Spin, dark-skinned woman, go and don't go
Ginga morena, cai não cai
Sway, dark-skinned woman, don't fall
Samba, morena ele desacata
Samba, he disobeys you, dark-skinned woman
Morena uma brasa viva pronta pra queimar
Dark-skinned woman, a live coal ready to burn
Queimando a gente sem clemência
Burning people mercilessly
Samba morena, com malemolência
Samba, dark-skinned woman, with gracefulness
Meu coração é um pandeiro
My heart is a pandeiro (Brazilian musical instrument similar to a tambourine)
Gingando ao compasso de um samba feiticeiro
Swinging to the beat of a bewitching samba
Samba que mexe com a gente
Samba that moves us
Samba que zomba da gente
Samba that mocks us
O amor é um samba tão diferente
Love is such a different samba
Morena samba no terreiro
Dark-skinned woman sambas in the yard
Pisando vaidosa, sestrosa
Stepping proudly, frivolous
Meu coração, morena, tem pena
My heart, dark-skinned woman, feels sorry
De mais um sofredor que se queimou
For another sufferer who burned himself
Na brasa viva do teu amor
In the live coal of your love
Lyrics © Tratore, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: ARY BARROSO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Christophe Rousseau
Perfeição no canto e no balanço do violão do mestre João Gilberto... não canço de ouvir ..........................
Alexia Sousa
Obrigada por tudo mestre , sua arte é eterna e nos encanta para sempre , que esteja em paz no céu ❤❤❤
mugen491
I really cannot stop listening to his music, Joao Gilberto is a master, the rythm, the lyrics, the melody, everything works with a perfect symbiose that makes me dream about Brazil haha!
Leo Jansen Zerbinato
We used to live this dream... =/
Göran Fransson
mugen491 7
Maria Susana Labordeta Gavin
D.E.P Gracias , por habernos darnos tan grandes momentos con tú música . Eres y has sido el mejor ...Besos al cielo
Kata Hu
Relax total!!! 😍
Vladimir Alencar
Gênio.
Rê Araujo
Linda essa música
Alfredo Benavides
Muito bonita!