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Known simply as Brazil, this is one of the best known Brazilian songs of all time. “Aquarela do Brasil” by Ary Barroso, became famous after its inclusion as soundtrack in the Walt Disney’s animated film Saludos amigos (1942) which was sung by Aloysio Oliveira and Carmen Miranda. This song also gave rise to a new kind of samba called “exaltation samba”, which its main feature is the lyrical content that usually praises Brazil as a fantastic country where everything is good. The song was reborn when João Gilberto recorded it on the album “Brasil”, in 1981, with appearances by Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil. The other day I was talking to Joe – my […]…

Geraldo Pereira was born in Minas Gerais in 1918, the same state where Milton Nascimento and João Bosco were born. He was still a child when his family moved to a neighborhood near Morro da Mangueira, in Rio de Janeiro, that is famous for being a samba stronghold.

This is another Bossa Nova classic that João Gilberto immortalized with his elegant performance on the album “Getz/Gilberto”. Previously, the song was recorded by the vocal group “Anjos do inferno” in 1945, and was more like a samba, played and sung as commonly done in the 1930s due to the strong influence of Carmen Miranda’s artistic style. You can listen to the 1945 version here PDF Lesson Pronunciation listen to Dorival Caymmi Antônio Almeida…

The story goes that Noel Rosa composed this song to seduce a woman named Fina, who worked in a fabric factory. Noel was not particularly handsome. He was short, thin and had a malformed chin. But his lack of beauty attributes was made up for by his remarkable ability to write beautiful poems and songs, which he often used to seduce would-be lovers.

A classic song from the Bossa Nova repertoire, this song was composed by Tom Jobim, in 1959. It was recorded for the first time by Vera Lúcia in 1959, and then by Dick Farney in 1960. But the magic happened in 1961 when João Gilberto, with the his unique talent of transforming everything he touched into a gem, recorded it in the album "João Gilberto".

Gilberto Gil composed this song in 1969, during the dictatorship, when the military government decided that he should be expelled from Brazil for considering that his songs had a subversive content. In the lyrics, Gil says goodbye to many things in Rio de Janeiro. From neighborhoods to samba schools, and people.

Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes wrote this song especially for the soundtrack of the movie Orfeu Negro, by French director Marcel Camus released in 1959, awarded the Palme d'Or in Cannes and the Oscar for best foreign film. According to Ruy Castro in Chega de Saudade, his book on the history of bossa nova, the song was composed against the will of Tom, who did not see the need to create a new score for the film, since it was based on the play Orfeu da Conceição, written by Vinicius de Moraes, with music by Tom himself, which had its debut in 1956, marking the beginning of one of the most celebrated partnerships in the history of Brazilian popular music.

This lesson is about how to play and sing the song "Você", by Roberto Menescal and Ronaldo Bôscoli. This song is very famous here in Brazil and has been recorded by many singers and jazz players around  the world.

In this lesson, you will learn to play and sing the song "Só tinha de ser com você", by Tom Jobim and Aloysio de Oliveira. A classic Bossa Nova song that has been recorded by many singers over time. I hope you enjoy playing and singing this beautiful song.