Bossa nova

Bossa nova is a genre of Brazilian music, which developed and was popularized in the 1950s and '60s and is today one of the best-known Brazilian music genres abroad. The phrase bossa nova means literally "new trend" (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈbɔsɐ ˈnɔvɐ]). A lyrical fusion of samba and jazz, bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s, initially among young musicians and college students.

Etymology

In Brazil, the word "bossa" is old-fashioned slang for something that is done with particular charm, natural flair or innate ability. As early as 1932, Noel Rosa used the word in a samba:

The exact origin of the term "bossa nova" still remains uncertain. Within the artistic beach culture of the late 1950s in Rio de Janeiro, the term "bossa" was used to refer to any new "trend" or "fashionable wave". In his book Bossa Nova, Brazilian author Ruy Castro asserts that "bossa" was already in use in the 1950s by musicians as a word to characterize someone's knack for playing or singing idiosyncratically. Castro claims that the term "bossa nova" might have first been used in public for a concert given in 1958 by the Grupo Universitário Hebraico do Brasil (University Hebrew Group of Brazil). This group consisted of Sylvinha Telles, Carlinhos Lyra, Nara Leão, Luizinho Eça, Roberto Menescal, et al. In 1959, Nara Leão also participated in more than one embryonic display of bossa nova. This included the 1st Festival de Samba Session, conducted by the PUC's (Pontifícia Universidade Católica) student union. This session was then chaired by Carlos Diegues, a law student that Leão ultimately married.

Bossa nova (disambiguation)

Bossa nova is a style of music.

Bossa Nova may also refer to:

Bossa Nova (dance)

Bossa nova was a fad dance that corresponded to the bossa nova music. It was introduced in 1960 and faded out in the mid-sixties.

Bossa nova music, soft and with sophisticated vocal rhythms and improvisations, is well suited for listening but failed to become dance music despite heavy promotion as yet another dance craze of the 1960s.

The style of basic dance steps suited the music well. It was danced on soft knees that allowed for sideways sways with hip motions. It could be danced both solo and in pairs.

There were about ten various simple step sentences published.

A variant of basic 8-beat pattern was: step forward, tap, step back, step together, repeat from the opposite foot.

A variation of this pattern was a kind of slow samba walk, with "step together" above replaced by "replace".

In fact, box steps of rhumba and whisk steps of nightclub two step could be fitted with bossa-nova styling.

Embellishments included placing one arm onto one own's belly and waving another arm at waist level in the direction of the sway, possibly with finger click.