SAO PAULO (AP) — Because the begin of her profession, New York-born Brazilian singer Bebel Gilberto has put out albums rooted within the South American nation’s wealthy musical historical past. And within the sound of her household, too — that of her late father, bossa nova pioneer João Gilberto.
However she had by no means made it a degree to file an album of his songs. Till now.
4 years after his dying, she determined it was time to reconnect with the most important affect in her life and profession. So she has launched “João,” her first album made up fully of songs composed or made well-known by her father.
“It’s a love letter to him,” Gilberto advised The Related Press in a telephone interview from her New York Metropolis condo this week amid concert events on her present tour. “Are you aware while you need to pay a tribute to somebody and then you definitely go to Instagram and write a protracted posting? I needed to speak to him. My manner of doing it was making this album.”
“It’s simply that the time has come. I needed his music to journey once more,” she added.
And but, the 57-year-old artist, who splits her time between New York and Rio de Janeiro, is just not too snug performing a few of her father’s hit songs — resembling “Fly, My Coronary heart” (“Chega de Saudade” in Portuguese), a music many bossa nova consultants take into account the founding composition of the style in 1959, or “The Lady from Ipanema,” which her father and his first spouse, Astrud Gilberto delivered to a worldwide viewers in 1958.
Gilberto mentioned she spent a lot of her time engaged on “João” selecting out her favourite songs by her father, counting on her musical and emotional response, after which “doing one thing nobody cares about anymore — selecting the order.”
“That’s key for me to have a sense of move,” she mentioned. “I do know it sounds outdated, however I want it.”
“Adeus América” (“Goodbye America”) opens the album. Within the music, João Gilberto describes his eager for Brazil whereas spending a season in the USA on the home of jazz saxophonist Stan Getz, considered one of his closest pals and a frequent collaborator.
The subsequent observe is “Eu Vim da Bahia” (“I Got here from Bahia”), which follows her father’s exit from the U.S. and celebrates his house of northeastern Brazil.
For Gilberto, the songs transcend a celebration of her dad — it’s a celebration of her nation.
“My father’s music is João’s music. He isn’t a mere ambassador for bossa nova. What he did was Brazilian music,” the singer mentioned. “I do know I’m making an attempt to not put on that hat and the hat is already on, however I’m making an attempt to inform different artists that ‘João’ is a tribute to Brazilian music, to not a selected style.”
That appreciation for Brazilian sounds extends to new generations exterior the nation who’re interacting with the music for the primary time. Gilberto mentioned she is happy for youthful voices, just like the pop star Billie Eilish, who launched the hit music “Billie Bossa Nova” in 2021, and the Brazilian swagger of Beabadoobee’s “The Excellent Pair.”
“I’m a fan of Billie’s, she did nice. And I’m positive many different younger artists have heard her and began listening to Brazilian music,” Gilberto mentioned. “I hope I can convey some extra to the desk with my album.”
However releasing a tribute to your father is one factor. Performing it in entrance of an viewers is one other. Gilberto had tears in her eyes in her first concert events following the album’s launch on Aug. 25, questioning what he would have thought of “João.”
“It’s laborious to distance your self if you end up an artist, much more so when you’ve got so many feelings,” she mentioned. “He’s my father and I’ve a weak coronary heart. However I’ve already grown some resilience to sing on.”