What's Bossa Nova? - History

The father of Bossa Nova, Antonio Carlos Jobim said, "Bossa Nova is the blend of Brazilian samba with modern jazz."

In the late 1950s, carnival type of sambas was popular among the working class in Brazil. Among the middle class, the samba-cancao was more popular, which texts were sentimental and melodramatic.

The Bossa Nova movement was led by a guitalist Joao Gilberto and a composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, without whom, the musical form of Bossa Nova may not have enjoyed its current reputation. They brought changes and innovations to the traditional samba. Bossa Nova is often played by guitar, bass, and drums, sometimes accompanied by sax, flute, or piano. Bossa Nova did not replace the traditional samba, but created an independent status of its own among various musical genre.

Some criticized that Bossa Nova has culturally alienated the Brazilian people from the traditional samba, and that it was a product of adoring an American culture. It may be true in a sense, as Bossa Nova contains various elements of an American jazz. It's contact with an American jazz is undeniable, however, through this contact, a new and unique genre was born, which was purely Brazilian.

The soft and controlled nature of Bossa Nova seems quite different from the traditional samba. To me, it reminds me of an American jazz. However, the earthly beat that I feel in Bossa Nova must be a product of the Brazilian culture and people.
Although Bossa Nova resembles the "cool jazz" of the United States, which many Brazilians admired, there certainly is Bossa Nova flavor in it.

Bossa Nova enjoyed the height of its popularity in the 60's. It grew together as the growth of nationalism. Musicians began to express their political message through Bossa Nova. Through growing nationalism, musicians began to contain more elements of the traditional samba into Bossa Nova. Some turned away from "cool jazz". The cultural nationalism brought changes to the form of Bossa Nova through the history, and will continue to do so. We'll see various different forms of expression by talented musicians in the years to come, as Bossa Nova is not just one of musical genres, but is a message of its people.

(Reference-Bossa Nova home and abroad, by C.A. Perrone)