The Brazil Travel Site

Brazil’s Best on the Guitar

Two of Brazil’s most talented and treasured guitar players often pair up to play together. Armandinho plays the little mandolin-like instrument, called a Cavaquinho (kah-vah-keen-yo), a traditional folk instrument in Brazil, while Yamandu Costa plays the guitar. Together, they volley back and forth with jaw-dropping speed and accuracy in their interpretations of classic Brazilian tunes. These are two musicians that are a joy to watch and to hear. Seek them out if you ever find yourself in Brazil and ready to see a concert.

A Brief History of Bossa Nova

When you look back on it, it seems almost inevitable that something important was to come from Rio de Janeiro in the 1950s. Brazil was enjoying a time of prosperity and cultural growth under the presidency of Juscelino Kubitschek. Carmen Miranda had opened the doors to Hollywood and gotten the world to take notice of the big South American country and its music. Samba was sweeping the country as a popular music and dance form and Copacabana was famous for its casinos and high-rolling jet set.

Rio de Janeiro was full of nightclubs for all classes of people and musical tastes. American music scouts setup offices in town to help keep their ears to the music. Among the talent working these clubs went the likes of Antonio Calos Jobim and Joao Gilberto — acquaintences at the time, although not exactly friends. Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan, and Nat King Kole were among the musical presentations at the Copacabana Palace in those days.

Little Joao

Joao Gilberto was the son of a wealthy businessman from northern Bahia. His father played the sax and mandolin and was founder of his town’s marching band. Joao got his first guitar at 14 and soon dropped out of school, formed a band, and began playing at parties and festivals in his home town of Juazeiro. When his father learned that little Joao was not planning to continue his schooling but wanted instead to become a musician (synonymous with being a bum in those days) he cut off all financial support to his son. So began Gilberto’s long history of leeching off of others for support. Over the next 12 years, he would move from one handout to another, staying as long as anyone would support him, until eventually, practically nobody did. To make matters worse, Joao was rather fond of getting high on marijuana and sitting around playing his guitar and singing.

Eu vim da Bahia cantar
I came from Bahia to sing
Eu vim da Bahia contar
I came from Bahia to tell my story
Eu vim da Bahia, mas um dia eu volto para la
I came from Bahia, but one day I’ll return there

Gilberto arrived in Rio with a government job set up for him by his family and a singing gig in a quartet called Garotos da Lua (Boys of the Moon), which played at various clubs in Rio and Petropolis. He worked in the Cinelandia area, ironically, where all the popular music stores were located. Most of his time was spent in the stores and not at his desk. A year later, the Garotos da Lua got a record deal but on the day of the recording session, Gilberto was a no-show. He left the band the next day, after his band humiliated him for the no-show in front of the music store (where some of the band members worked). He was more interested in playing solo anyway and often promoted himself as a solo act on the band’s time. Soon after leaving the band, Gilberto was fired from his job for not even pretending to show up to work.

But Gilberto’s great singing voice, guitar playing, and charming personality landed him plenty of contacts and gigs and he spent the next few years scraping by on radio spots, ad jingles, and sit-ins for bands. As the story goes, one day he was kicked out of yet another friend’s house and made his way to Jobim’s place, then only an acquaintance from the club circuit. When he knocked on the door, Jobim’s wife answered with the message, “Tom (Jobim) told me to tell you that he is not home.” Gilberto later left Rio to play in Porto Alegre with some moderate success, but that success never quite translated to Rio de Janeiro and he left again to spend time with his sister in Diamantina, Minas Gerais. It’s said that he hardly left her house, but spent every waking hour sitting and playing the guitar.

Antonio Brasileiro

Meanwhile, Tom Jobim, the boy from Ipanema, had married young (at age 22) and was practically the opposite of Gilberto, concerned mostly with his domestic responsibilities and paying the rent. He worked as a pianist at night in any gig that would pay, from dive bars to the Copacabana Palace. He played frequently at the clubs on Beco das Garrafas (Bottle Alley), so called because residents threw bottles from the windows at the patrons as they made their way into the clubs. The alley was famous for its high class prostitutes, jazz and swing music, and bohemian clientele. It was known by the musicians as Beco Joga Chave Meu Amor (Throw Your Keys My Love Alley). Jobim had acquired a decent amount of local recognition as a songwriter and piano player. He connected with poet and song writer Vinicius de Morais, a government official who was to become his song writing partner and later ambassador to France. By the time Gilberto returned to Rio, Jobim had already achieved quite a bit of success as a musician and song writer.

Collaboration

Gilberto returned a bit more disciplined and determined and his playing had changed a matured. His great singing and playing got him into professional gigs and recording sessions and his unique guitar style attracted some attention. People said it was like Samba without the tambourines. One day, an important producer gave him an address on a piece of paper and told him to get in touch with this person to do some collaboration. The name on the paper was Tom Jobim. Their first recording together was Jobim’s Chega de Saldade with Gilberto’s Bim Bom on the B side. Slow to gather momentum in Brazil, the record got the attention of American scouts and within a year, Gilberto and Jobim were being produced in the United States. Gilberto’s first royalty check from Verve/Polygram Records was around US$25,000 for his collaboration with Stan Getz.

Information cited from Chega de Saldade: a historia e as historias da Bossa Nova, by Ruy Castro, Sao Paulo, 1990.