Vinicius and Jobim

On one hand, there was a diplomat who was a poet (or perhaps a poet who was a diplomat?) . On the other hand, a pianist and songwriter. Vinicius de Moraes was introduced to the relatively unknown musician Antonio Carlos Jobim as Jobim was to write the songs for his play "Orfeu da Conceicao". That was only the beginning of a famous and successful partnership between the two Cariocas* - a recipe that resulted in a new music style that later became the world wide known Bossa Nova. The new music sounded a lot like a mix of Jazz and Samba, of upper class and popular, of romance and poetry with the piano and the acoustic guitar. It was a reflection of what felt like a "Belle Époque" in Rio de Janeiro. "No more blues", "How insensitive", "The girl from Ipanema" and "She's a Carioca" were only a few of the masterpieces created by the partners, which opened the doors of the world for the Brazilian music.


You should take a time to listen to one of my favorite versions of "She's a Carioca", which mixes English and Portuguese and is sung by Celso Fonseca and Cibelle Cavalli.




*Carioca: a native of the city of Rio de Janeiro