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)
Samba do Avião
João Gilberto Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Estou morrendo de saudade rio,
Teu mar, praias sem fim, Rio você foi feito pra mim
Cristo Redentor, braços abertos sobre a Guanabara
Este samba é só porque Rio eu gosto de você
A morena sambar seu corpo todo a balançar
Rio de sol, de céu, de mar,
Dentro de mais um minuto estaremos descendo
Este samba é só porque Rio eu gosto de você,
A morena vai sambar seu corpo todo balançar, aperte o
Cinto vamos chegar, águas brilhando, olhe a pista
Chegando e vamos nós
The lyrics of Joao Gilberto's song Samba do Avião express the nostalgia and love for Rio de Janeiro felt by the singer. The first line, "Minha alma canta, vejo o Rio de Janeiro" (My soul sings, I see Rio de Janeiro) sets the tone for the rest of the song. The singer is filled with longing for the city, its endless beaches and its sea. He feels that Rio was made for him and is enchanted by the sight of the Cristo Redentor statue with its open arms overlooking the Guanabara Bay.
The melancholic mood is lifted when the singer is distracted by a morena (a dark-skinned woman) samba-ing and shaking her body. He is reminded of the joy and vibrancy that Rio embodies. The song takes place on an airplane landing in Rio and the character looks forward to landing and stepping off the plane. The lyrics celebrate the beauty of the city and the feeling of being welcomed back to a familiar place.
Line by Line Meaning
Minha alma canta, vejo o Rio de Janeiro
My soul sings, I see Rio de Janeiro
Estou morrendo de saudade rio,
I am dying of longing for Rio,
Teu mar, praias sem fim, Rio você foi feito pra mim
Your sea, endless beaches, Rio you were made for me
Cristo Redentor, braços abertos sobre a Guanabara
Christ the Redeemer, arms open over Guanabara
Este samba é só porque Rio eu gosto de você
This samba is just because Rio, I love you
A morena sambar seu corpo todo a balançar
The morena sambas, her whole body sways
Rio de sol, de céu, de mar,
Rio of sun, of sky, of sea,
Dentro de mais um minuto estaremos descendo
Within one more minute, we'll be descending
No Galeão Cristo Redentor braços abertos sobre a Guanabara
At Galeão, Christ the Redeemer, arms open over Guanabara
Este samba é só porque Rio eu gosto de você
This samba is just because Rio, I love you
A morena vai sambar seu corpo todo balançar, aperte o Cinto vamos chegar, águas brilhando, olhe a pista
The morena will samba, her whole body will sway, buckle up, we're arriving, waters sparkling, look at the runway
Chegando e vamos nós
We're arriving, and here we go
Lyrics © CORCOVADO MUSIC CORPORATION
Written by: ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Beto Vasconcelos
Se os americanos tivessem um artista desse nível, ao invés da estátua da liberdade eles teriam a estátua de João Gilberto com certeza! O maior!
dFs
👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
Paulo Oliveira
Resumindo João em uma palavra Gênio !
Leadro Maia
O maior músico de todo universo
Paulo Cangussu
este homem foi um gênio
Vitor Jardel
Cristo Redentor
Braços abertos sobre a Guanabara
Este samba é só porque
Rio, eu gosto de você
Isso sim é musica de verdade
Alma e conteúdo.
Leadro Maia
Alguma divida que ele foi o maior músico do planeta terra??
Marcos Barreiro
Pena que nunca o vi ao vivo. Ainda assim, trouxeste muitos bons momentos a todos aqueles que tem a honra de te ouvir. Descansa em paz
gjp
"He could read a newspaper and sound good." - Miles Davis
A compliment from one master about another, this is how Davis described legendary Brazilian singer/guitarist/composer JOÃO GILBERTO.
Source: La Phil
Maks Miliane Coelho Araujo
Muito bom excelente