Isabel Buarque de Hollanda Gilberto de Oliveira, artist name Bebel Gilberto. The singer-songwriter also calls herself a musician, although she doesn’t play an instrument, and is one of the world’s best-known, multiple Grammy-nominated Brazilian artists. With her sensual, hypnotizing velvety voice, she has been enchanting fans and critics since her debut EP in 1986. The Brazilian siren had their breakthrough with their album “Tanto Tempo” in 2000 and conquered clubs worldwide with their electronic bossa nova. “Tanto Tempo” was a milestone and became the best-selling Brazilian album in US chart history (over 1 million copies sold). The album with the remixes – by Rae & Christian, Peter Kruder, Chateau Flight, 4hero or the Trüby Trio – was also very successful afterwards. Both paved the way for her world career and made her a superstar.
A Family Affair
At the age of 57, Bebel Gilberto looks back on a musical life that began when she was born. Although she was born in New York in 1966, she comes from one of the most famous musical families in Brazil: her father is the bossa nova inventor João Gilberto, her mother was the singer and composer Miúcha, her uncle is the Brazilian legend Chico Buarque.
She remembers that when she was a little girl, she used to see her father constantly playing the guitar at home, and sometimes heard him sing. Sometimes she found it boring back then, because her parents were always making music or recording instead of talking or playing with her. João Gilberto wrote the sentimental song “Valsa” in 1973 for his then six-year-old daughter Bebel, when she had already moved to her grandmother in Brazil and her parents were still living in New York. At the age of ten she performed with her mother Miùcha and the American jazz saxophonist Stan Getz at Carnegie Hall in New York. Back then, she had to fill in for her father, who was known for notoriously being late or not showing up when he had concerts.
Gentle understatement
Bossa Nova (translated: New Way or New Wave) emerged in the 1950s when João Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim invented a cool, sensual, often bittersweet style of vocals, acoustic guitar and percussion that replaced samba as the main music in Brazil. The most famous song is “Girl from Ipanema”. Bebel Gilberto sings another great bossa nova classic on the new album: “Desafinado” is perhaps even the key song of the genre. Many have sung the song, but Bebel Gilberto’s father João Gilberto’s version is particularly beautiful, with its soft, understated vocals and accompaniment of acoustic guitar and percussion. The Portuguese text is about a singer who sings about love wrongly and out of tune (ie desafinado). Antonio Carlos Jobim wrote the song in response to critics deriding the style as “music for out-of-tune singers” in the late 1950s, when bossa nova emerged. Bebel Gilberto sings “Desafinado” wonderfully unobtrusively off the mark.
Immortal
“João” is Bebel Gilberto’s eighth album, it’s a tribute album for her father, she even calls it a love letter to him. The eleven songs are either written by him or classics such as “Ela é Carioca”, which have become known in his interpretations. The singer hasn’t sung any of her father’s songs since she was young, what’s more, she didn’t even like the term bossa nova and almost got angry when her music was put into that category. “It meant my father’s life, it’s a handicap for me,” she said in an interview. Only after her father’s death in 2019 was she able to start singing his songs. But what she wanted to avoid at all costs was sounding like him. Since her father, who had become a myth throughout his life, spent the last 30 years of his life in self-isolation, lonely and full of phobias and in a permanent clinch with his record companies, she also wants to ensure the survival of his work with her album.
father and daughter
Bebel wants João Gilberto’s songs to be available, live on and be discovered by future generations. For this she rearranged all the songs, most of them not quite as soft as him and with a slightly stronger presence, but otherwise just as sensual and singing as her father hovering slightly above the ground. Both have a lot in common. “Adeus América”, the second single from the album, is a kind of exile anthem with a strong homesickness character, which has to do with the life of the father as well as that of the daughter, since both have the USA – after long years – back in the direction of Brazil leave.
Goodbye America
“João” is a farewell to her father, but also a return to her roots, i.e. to traditional Brazilian bossa nova, which is not suitable for clubs. The album was produced by Thomas Bartlett, who is known for his collaborations with David Byrne, Sufjan Stevens, Anohni, Saint-Vincent, Yoko Ono and The National. The virtuoso Brazilian guitarist Guilherme Monteiro was responsible for the wonderfully feather-light guitar arrangements and the guitar parts. She has been working with him for a long time and has just completed a tour of 15 US cities with Monteiro.
“João” is a tender, mostly melancholic, very intense album, carried by Bebel Gilberto’s hypnotic, sensual voice and the great playing of her accompanying musicians. Just perfect for late summer evenings.
2023-08-26 22:13:28
#Album #der #Woche #Bebel #Gilberto #João
