Comparative Cultural Studies: European and Latin American Perspectives 9: 127-139, 2020 DOI: 10.13128/ccselap-11854 | ISSN 2531-9884 (online) Article Joao Gilberto, the beating heart of Bossa Nova GABRIELE CAMPANI Músico, compositor Abstract. Joao Gilberto died about one year ago in July 2019. To pay tribute to the musician’s unique talent, the article explores Gilberto’s role and contribution in bossa nova, temporary as a cultural movement, but eternal as a music style. Born in Juazei- ro, a town in the North East State of Bahia, where lived until he was 16, he always referred to the big Afro-Brazilian community, as the major influence in the develop- ment of his guitar playing. The background of his early years, becoming the inspira- tion of this innovative rhythmic pulse, were samba and Baião (that means “from Bahia”), and other popular folk-dance music rooted in African traditions. In 1958, “Chega de saudade” historically marked the official beginning of the new sound, the song that launched the bossa nova movement, and João Gilberto’s career as well. The article considers then the influence of Tom Jobim (who with the poet Vinicius De Moraes, worked for the theatrical opera “Orfeu de Conceicão”, better known as “Black Orpheus”). Jobim’s music, his intriguing melody, and harmony, plus the poetic Vin- icius’s lyrics, were the fruitful soil for Gilberto’s soothing, melancholic vocal interpre- tation, and his signature guitar style. The term “bossa nova” means exactly this: “new wave”, “new thing”, and we could define it, as Afro-European music, born in Brazil. At the end of the fifties, the bossa nova music idiom started to spread out since many US artists toured Brazil in those years. The early sixties were the golden years of the Bossa Nova, with the creation of The girl from Ipanema, a worldwide hit, still one of the most played and recorded songs ever. In 1964, the political crisis, the national eco- nomic troubles, and the dawn of a military dictatorship that lasted for more than two decades, were some of the external causes, that affected, besides other fields, the whole music environment. The few years of relative democracy ended violently in April 1964. The following campaign against left-wing dissident, with the CIA direct involve- ment, created a state of terror, that couldn’t be for sure positive for any cultural move- ment, included music. Followed the long exile of Joao Gilberto that lasted until 1980. Keywords: Afro-Brazilian community, bossa nova, Joao Gilberto. Resumen. Joao Gilberto murió hacia un año, en el mes de julio de 2019. Para rendir homenaje a este músico de enorme talento, el artículo explora el papel de Gilberto y su contribución en la bossa nova, un movimiento cultural temporáneo, pero eterno como estilo de música. Nacido en Juazeiro, una ciudad en el estado noreste de Bahia, en donde él vivió hasta los 16 años, siempre se ha referido a la comunidad afro-bra- sileña, como mayor influencia en el desarrollo del sonido de su guitarra. El trasfondo de sus primeros años, se ha vuelto la inspiración de este nuevo ritmo, en donde sam- ba y Baiao (que significa desde Bahia), y otras músicas folk-dance popular enraícidas en las tradiciones africanas. En 1958, “Chega de saudade” marcó históricamente el comienzo oficial del nuevo sonido. El artículo considera la influencia de Tom Jobim, Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Open Access. This in an open access article published by Firenze University Press (www.fupress.net/index.php/ccselap) and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attri- bution 4.0 International License. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. 128 Gabriele Campani la cual música, con las letras poéticas de Vinicius De Moraes, eran la base de la inter- pretación melancólica vocal de Gilberto. El término “bossa nova” significa: “nueva oleada”, “nueva cosa”, y podemos definirla como música afro-brasileña nacida en Bra- sil. Al final de los Cincuenta, el idioma de la música bossa nova se desarrolla afuera, puesto que varios artistas estadounidenses hacen el tour de Brasil durante esos años. Al comienzo de los años Sesenta empiezan los años dorados de la bossa nova, con la creación de la canción La garota de Ipanema, un hit mundial y todavía una de las canciones más difundida y enregistrada desde siempre. En 1964, la crisis política, los problemas económicos nacionales y el comienzo de una dictadura militar la cual duró más de dos decenios, constituían algunas de las causas exteriores que afectaron junto con otras, todo el ambiente musical Los pocos años de relativa democracia se acaba- ron con violencia en el mes de abril de 1964. La siguiente campaña contra los oposi- tores de iziquierda, con la participación directa de la CIA, creó un estado de terror que no podía ser positivo para todo movimiento cultural, incluso el ámbito musical. Siguiendo el largo exilio de Joao Gilberto que duró hasta el año 1980. Keywords: bossa nova, comunidad afro-brasileña, Joao Gilberto. 1. Foreword Nowadays Rio de Janeiro lifestyle and music scene, are very different from what they were when Bossa Nova emerged, with that fresh elegance, laid back good lifestyle, that a visionary middle-class had created. It was “a place where you could leave your bicy- cle unlocked in a beachside rack, come back at the end of the day, and find it still there” (from “Getz/Gilberto” by Brian McCann, page 115, Bloomsbury Academic 2019). Difficult to imagine something like that in the current reality, facing a 24/7 high level of crime, with violent gangs, riding the city at the loud sound of rap music inside their cars… By the time that bossa became acknowledged and rewarded worldwide, and “The Girl from Ipanema” an international pop success, the ascending parabola had already began to fade, and the magic moment inside its native country, never repeated again. 2. Introduction It’s controversial to define exactly Joao Gilberto’s role and contribution in bossa nova, temporary as a cultural movement, but eternal as a music style, besides the recognition of his unique talent. In a certain way, the more I’ve learnt about him, the more it becomes dif- ficult to give an opinion, due to lack the of direct information, because of his remote atti- tude, and difficult character, not helpful to understand the man behind the hermetic artist. We don’t have a lot from his own words, but mainly through testimonies of people in con- tact with him for a while. The resulting portrait talks about a difficult man indeed. After his return to Brazil in 1980 from US he spent almost the last forty years of his life in a form of self-exile confined in a quiet residence in Leblon, a Rio South district, where he passed away in July 2019. He performed live rarely (his last concert dated 2008), usually when he was strapped for cash, in the perpetual debts, and housing issues, that followed him all lifelong. A sort of “Hellhound on my trail” as the lyrics of Robert Johnson, the legend of delta blues: Comparative Cultural Studies: European and Latin American Perspectives 9: 127-139, 2020 Joao Gilberto, the beating heart of Bossa Nova 129 quite similar in some way to his character, both pushed somewhere else by a constant need to change location, an endless research of a place to stay, that could have been called “home”. Both lives of these iconic musicians, were surrounded by mysteries and legends. Carlos Lyra is one of the few still alive first generation bossa nova composers. Talking about Joao Gil- berto, he declared in a recent interview:”I called him Dracula, because he was a vampire. He never came out in the light” (Jazz Times Magazine, Sept 2019, p. 20). Maybe his fame was related to an agreement with the devil, like the bluesman of Mississippi did at the crossroad? We never know, but among a tendency to depression, and a misanthropy that followed him all life long, there were also evidences of a kind of hypochondriac obsession on several occa- sions. Like when he left US, after three years of permanence, to come back to Brazil for meeting the speech pathologist Pedro Bloch. He was in a pivotal moment of his career, but he believed that he was loosing his voice…quite a strange thing for his style of singing! The doctor anyway, didn’t find anything wrong with it, but he decided, to stop talking (that was not his special also before that!), answering at the phone knocking on the receiver, in a sort of Morse code. Another example of a possible imaginary disease happened still in a very successful period of his life, after the recordings of the “Getz/Gilberto” album. He was performing every night at the Bussola in Viareggio (Tuscany), possibly the reference venue of the finest musicians during those Italian economic-boom years. His band was probably the best pure Brazilian bossa nova combo ever seen, with Joao Donato on piano, Milton Banana on drums, and Tião Neto on double bass, besides him on gui- tar and vocals. All of a sudden he quitted, leaving everything behind, to move to Paris, looking for the acupuncturist, Doctor Zappalla, because of a sprain on his right arm, and once again, the doctor was unable to solve his problem. Maybe it was only that constant desire of quitting, and move somewhere else, that pushed him away. He always refused to learn English, although he lived for so long time in US, and this made the commu- nications with the journalists, or people in the music business, more difficult than they already were.