A GOD CALLED JOAO GILBERTO.... João Gilberto was born in Juazeiro, Bahia. From an early age, music was a part of Gilbertos life. His grandfather bought him his first guitar at the age of 14. During high school, Gilberto teamed up with some of his classmates to form a small band. Gilberto, who led the band, was influenced by Brazilian popular songs, American jazz, and even some opera, among other genres. After trying his luck as a radio singer in Salvador, Bahia, the young Gilberto was recruited in 1950 as lead singer of the vocal quintet Garotos da Lua (Moon Boys) and moved to Rio de Janeiro. A year and a half later, he was dismissed from the group for his lack of discipline (he would often show up late to rehearsals or not at all). João Gilbertos first recordings were released in Brazil as two-song 78-rpm singles between 1951 and 1959. In the 1960s, Brazilian singles evolved to the double compact format, and João would release some EPs in this new format, which carried 4 songs on a 45-rpm record. For seven years, Gilbertos career was at a low ebb. He rarely had any work, was dependent on his friends for living quarters, and fell into chronic depression. Eventually, in 1955 he was rescued from this rut by Luiz Telles, leader of the vocal group Quitandinha Serenaders, who took him to Porto Alegre in southern Brazil. In this provincial town João Gilberto blossomed musically. Next he spent eight months with his sister in Diamantina, Minas Gerais, where he sequestered himself and played day and night in a little bathroom (because of the improved acoustic), forging a personal style for voice and guitar, that would come to be known as bossa nova. The first bossa nova song, titled Bim-Bom, was written as Gilberto watched passing laundresses on the banks of the São Francisco River balance loads of clothes on their heads.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 11:20:49 +0000
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