The Girl from Ipanema: Brazil, Bossa Nova and the Beach


The Girl from Ipanema: Brazil, Bossa Nova and the Beach

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SONG: The Girl From Ipanema

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# Tall and tan and young and lovely

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# The girl from Ipanema goes walking and

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# When she passes each one she passes goes

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# "Ah..."

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# When she walks, she's like a samba

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# That swings so cool and sways so gently that

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# When she passes, each one she passes goes

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# "Ah..." #

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The Girl From Ipanema. Nothing says Rio de Janeiro quite like it.

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Musical legends from Frank Sinatra to Amy Winehouse

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cut their own versions of the most famous piece of bossa nova

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ever written. And when it was first a hit back in 1964,

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those three sublime minutes crystallised a vision of Brazil

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in the eyes of the rest of the world that endures to this day.

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# But each day when she walks to the sea

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# She looks straight ahead not at he... #

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So I've come here to Rio to explore the culture and the people

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behind the hit song.

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It's a journey into a most extraordinary period

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in Brazil's history when utopian Modernism,

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African rhythms and romantic poetry were channelled by a generation

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of Rio natives - Cariocas - to create bossa nova,

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Brazil's first and last truly international art form.

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# Tall and tan and young and lovely

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# The girl from Ipanema goes walking and

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# When she passes each one she passes goes

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# "Ah..."

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Bossa nova is the most beautiful music ever

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because it's sophisticated and also very simple.

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We were fighting for a cause, we had the sensation, we were fighting for,

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our cause was to divulge,

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to promote this wonderful music that will save Brazil.

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Bossa's a music defined by its sophistication, but sadly,

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now more often heard in a lift than on the radio.

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But I've always loved bossa.

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My father was born here in Rio so I grew up listening to it,

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and I've travelled here to Brazil many times to see and hear it

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for myself. There is so much more to it than its Muzak stereotype,

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and it means so much to Brazilians of all ages.

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So join me as I retrace the steps of the girl from Ipanema

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to a golden age of Brazilian music

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and the sun, sea and samba that started it all.

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# And when she passes she smiles

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# But she doesn't see

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# She just doesn't see... #

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Any story about Brazilian music has to start with samba.

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In fact, here in Brazil, they say that music is samba

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and samba is God.

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It's the music that tells the story of the Brazilian people,

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and it also provides the pulsing soundtrack

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to Rio's famous carnival parades.

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UPBEAT MUSIC

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Samba is where the soul of Brazil is.

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It's the way Brazil breathes, it's the way Brazil walks,

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it's the heartbeat of Brazil.

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Samba is as old as Brazil itself.

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Based on rhythms brought to the continent by West African slaves

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in the 16th century, it took hold as a truly Brazilian rhythm

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in the 1930s under the nationalist dictator Getulio Vargas.

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He used the carnival parades to promote his policy

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of racial democracy,

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unifying the diverse population through song and dance.

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And carnival still has that effect today.

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So samba means carnival, it means party.

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Tell us how people behave when they hear a samba.

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Bossa nova feels very calm compared to samba but is there some link?

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You can see why the Brazilians love samba. I mean, what's not to like?

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But all this, the drums and the noise and the singing

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and all the general madness is a million miles away from the soft,

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sophisticated tones of bossa nova.

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They may have come from the same place,

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but bossa nova was a child of its time, and that time was the 1950s.

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-REPORTER:

-'Yes, it's the most famous beach in the world,

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'Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro,

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'the city where the tango and the samba and the prettiest girls

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'in the world come from.'

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Bossa nova captured the mood of a special moment in Brazil's history.

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The demise of President Vargas in 1954

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called an end to 25 years of strict state control

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and gave way to a democratic, outward-looking Brazil

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with its sights set on becoming a modern First World nation.

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It was beautiful.

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It was an emerging time for arts,

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for film, for many things.

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It was like a promise

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of a new country, new life.

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-NEWSREADER:

-Brazil's president elect, Juscelino Kubitschek,

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declares putting Brazil on the map will be the biggest operation

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of his career.

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We had this great president in this Kubitschek.

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JK was his nickname.

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We used to call the President bossa nova.

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Yeah, because he was always smiling.

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He loves music.

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People loved him, he was a democrat.

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He started to build cars

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and industries.

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He was a visionary.

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"We will build a new capital in four years."

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And they did it.

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After centuries of colonial rule and hard-line dictatorships,

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Kubitschek's promise of 50 years' development in five,

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epitomised by the audacity of the brand-new capital, Brasilia,

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inspired hope for a new start for Brazil.

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And, as if life couldn't get any better,

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the national football team were on top of the world.

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1958, miraculously, Brazil won the World Cup in Sweden.

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And with a generation with Pele, Garrincha,

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the greatest football players,

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they marvelled the world with it.

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They were not only playing football,

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they were artists, they were dancers, they were magicians.

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And that, in Brazil, had a strong effect on the Brazilian soul.

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"We're the best."

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And the bossa nova comes as the perfect soundtrack of this period

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of Brazilian life - we were happy.

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The soundtrack to this golden era would be written by a generation

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of middle-class kids coming of age in the beachfront apartment blocks

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of Copacabana and Ipanema.

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Guitar-mad Carlos Lyra and Roberto Menescal,

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jobbing night-time pianist Tom Jobim,

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keen young singer Nara Leao

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and awkward troubadour Joao Gilberto

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enjoyed a charmed lifestyle and bonded over their desire

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for a modern Brazilian sound to call their own.

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SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

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The music was that kind of thing,

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"Waiter, bring me another glass because that woman just...

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"found herself a lover and I'm here suffering with this sentimental..."

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All the lyrics were about adultery, you know.

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It was horrible.

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APPLAUSE

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Running a mile from their parents' sorrowful samba-canao,

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Rio's hip teens fell in love with American cool jazz.

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The West Coast jazz, I loved it.

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Stan Kenton, Gerry Mulligan, Shorty Rogers,

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Barney Kessel.

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Me and Roberto Menescal used to listen to Barney Kessel

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day and night. We were very impressed by that.

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The group would meet in the family home of young singer Nara Leao

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This intimate environment set the tone

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for the style of music they played.

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SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

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Everybody barefoot,

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drinking whiskey

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and smoking a lot.

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And everybody... The guitar will circulate

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and everyone will show his new songs.

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I would be here, you would be there, Menescal there...

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and a piano here, guitar...

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and then I had to play to you my new song.

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It was difficult because I have to impress.

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To go inside that group, you have to be good,

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or they would think that you weren't good.

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But once you were there, everybody would help each other.

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It soon became an ambitious songwriters circle,

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and in 1958 came the first song to be dubbed bossa nova, the new beat.

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It would also unite on record the future team behind

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The Girl From Ipanema.

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SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

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The only place to come in Rio to get more info on this seminal song

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is the record shop-cum-library cum-bossa nova shrine

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run by Carlos Alberto Afonso.

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The first document of music, of course,

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phonographic documents of bossa nova history,

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one recording from July 10, '58.

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The first moment with the bossa nova seed is one recording

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with Joao Gilberto, the god, number one,

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playing and singing and the orchestra

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of the second god of bossa nova,

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Antonio Carlos Jobim or Tom Jobim.

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SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

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When I heard this song, it was something...

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Something happened in my heart and I said, "What is that?"

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Because it was so unusual, the way he sings,

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the way the beat and the music, everything, you know?

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I can remember exactly when I heard Joao Gilberto.

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I was in a party

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and I was dating a very beautiful girl.

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I remember I said, "My God, what is that?"

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Even if I had influence of many other kinds of music,

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when bossa nova, I heard this,

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I said, "My God!" I was under the impact.

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Something of an outsider,

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Joao Gilberto was from the northern state of Bahia

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and was steeped in that region's African samba rhythms.

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This deep knowledge was always welcome at the jam sessions in Rio,

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even if Joao himself was a bit of a loner.

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But what really marked out the man who would first perform

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The Girl From Ipanema was his new twist on the samba rhythm,

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which became known as the bossa beat.

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He listened to the samba, played by the samba schools,

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500 percussionists walking in procession

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and playing that groove...

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SHE MIMICS DRUMBEAT

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Really kind of explosive sounds.

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Irresistible sound.

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He just heard that and just took

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the essential element of it

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and created this groove that he could play

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with his right hand on the guitar.

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And that's, you know, that was genius.

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Joao Gilberto used to play like that.

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And used to play with the five fingers

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in a strange way, this way.

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And he could swing with that way.

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I was amazed with the way he could play.

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So did you and Roberto Menescal then try and sort of imitate that way?

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We all tried to copy that

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cos that was the way of playing bossa nova.

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SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

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Gilberto's playing style was a revelation.

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But he also brought an attention to detail bordering on the obsessive.

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For him, it has to be that perfection, like Flaubert.

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He would roll on the floor in search of the right word.

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The same thing with Joao Gilberto,

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and the same thing for anybody who considers himself bossa nova.

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He has to have the right thing,

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the right touch because otherwise you don't have art.

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SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

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Samba is the rhythm,

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bossa nova is the way to play this song -

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sweet, kind.

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Intimate of voice,

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minimalistic behaviour of the instruments.

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I call the bossa nova with one name -

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Mona Lisa bossa nova. Yeah!

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Same artistic perspective of Renaissance art.

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Looking for the formal perfection

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through the simple.

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Just the necessary, no more.

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SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

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Bossa nova is very romantic.

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Very romantic, always.

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But the romance was always very light, very cool, never aggressive.

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Like singing in the ears of a woman.

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Never screaming.

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SHE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE

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The song was like meditation, you know, you get inside, you know,

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it's not so extrovert, it's coming in, it's introverted,

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it's like with yourself.

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SHE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE

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The art of bossa nova relied as much upon its sophisticated harmonies

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and catchy melodies as it did the intimate performance style.

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And the master composer and linchpin of the early scene

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was Antonio Carlos or "Tom" Jobim.

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I'm travelling three hours north of Rio into the mountains to visit

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the Jobim family's rustic country retreat.

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It's out here in the wilderness

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that Jobim wrote some of his best-known songs.

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So this is it, your grandfather's favourite place.

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Favourite place in the world.

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So how often would he come up here?

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Oh, he would stay months at a time, writing songs every morning.

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What did he love about this place, why did he always want to come up?

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All the birds, he knew all the birds by the scientific name, you know.

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And the melodies, which ones were doing,

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and writing the songs together.

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And from here he would use the whistle of the hunters,

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to call the female or the male from the outside of the river.

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-So this is amazing.

-Yeah. Palm trees.

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-Very nice.

-The monkeys jump from tree to tree.

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My music comes from this...

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environment here, you know,

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the rain, the sun, the trees,

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the birds, the mountains, the rocks.

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Beautiful.

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He loved life.

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And those guys, they were all like that, they were bohemian,

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they enjoyed life, they enjoyed beauty, they were into beauty.

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So this is the studio... where it all happened.

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Yes, his piano, upright piano, would be here with a bust of Chopin

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and some pictures of family there.

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And he would study here in the morning,

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looking at the forest there...

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and write all the songs.

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He played at night,

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like a pianist in bars.

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And that was, for a while,

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was not easy...not an easy living.

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He wanted to be a classical pianist.

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So he studied Rachmaninoff -

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he loved Stravinsky,

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Chopin a lot -

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and began writing arrangements.

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SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

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Jobim, he innovated in

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harmonic language what is possible.

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He was a poet of harmony,

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by putting chords or sounds together

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that nobody thought would sound beautiful together,

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and he knew how to do that.

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He would also link them together

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with these melodies that were out of heaven.

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SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

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He created a new grammar or vocabulary of harmony,

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something that inspires musicians,

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especially jazz musicians, all over the world.

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By the end of the 1950s, a whole new scene was emerging here

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in the beachfront South Zone area of Rio.

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As the major players brought bossa out of their apartments

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and into the world, their new sound, their new way of playing,

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found their home in a loose network of small clubs and bars,

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most famously here in Bottle Alley.

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SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

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The development of bossa nova,

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the promotion of it,

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was done in this small nightclub

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that can hold 40, 50 people,

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very tiny tables.

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But you could listen to Tom Jobim, to Joao Gilberto.

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They could almost avoid amplification,

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that was beautiful that time.

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So, Sergio, when Bottles Bar was first opened in the 1950s and '60s,

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it was THE place to come, wasn't it?

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So the stars of stage and screen were now enjoying the new beat,

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alongside the cafe crowd in Rio,

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and now they could also take home bossa nova on vinyl,

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as the music business rushed to release albums

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by all the original gang.

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Even the record covers had their own, new aesthetic,

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in keeping with the cool, minimalism of the movement.

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And in spring 1961,

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a group of respected American jazz musicians touched down in Brazil

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as part of a state-sponsored goodwill tour, and their interest

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in the new scene ran deeper than just a good night out.

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All the bossa boys were listening to American jazz, but what they didn't

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realise was that the big names in American jazz

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were listing to them, too, and they loved what they were hearing.

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Stars like Charlie Byrd and Gerry Mulligan flew down here

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to Rio to visit and to play,

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and the musical friendships that were born then would catapult

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bossa nova onto the world stage.

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When we talk about the classic moment when bossa nova

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caught the attention of the jazz musicians up in the States,

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what did they like about it,

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what was it about bossa nova that made them sit up?

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I think there are...

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musical elements that are very common to both languages.

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The first one is melody.

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Because when you put it in relation to the harmony,

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they become really complex notes,

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chords that a jazz player will go, "Yes, that's what I need."

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You know, it's juicy.

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They identified rhythm cos it has very much of what they gave to us,

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especially the harmony.

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The harmony, it's all from the American jazz.

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Guitarist Charlie Byrd wasted no time in recording his own versions

0:27:450:27:48

of the bossa nova he heard in Rio,

0:27:480:27:51

teaming up with the legendary saxophonist Stan Getz

0:27:510:27:54

on the album Jazz Samba.

0:27:540:27:56

Released in April '62,

0:27:560:27:57

it sold half a million copies in 18 months

0:27:570:28:00

and became the only jazz album ever

0:28:000:28:03

to hit number one on the Billboard pop chart,

0:28:030:28:07

and the Tom Jobim tune Desafinado led the charge in the hit parade.

0:28:070:28:11

Here you have a mystery. The public really went for this.

0:28:260:28:29

It's jazz but I guess I'll use the word "accessible."

0:28:290:28:33

It's the melody, even though it's complex, is still singable,

0:28:330:28:37

which is sort of amazing.

0:28:370:28:39

It's not that easy, it's not Do Re Mi.

0:28:410:28:44

That may have been the reason that,

0:28:440:28:46

wow, here's an audience who was looking for something like that.

0:28:460:28:50

And, interestingly enough, it wasn't vocal at the time,

0:28:500:28:53

Desafinado was an instrumental record

0:28:530:28:56

who hit way up in the top of the pop charts.

0:28:560:28:59

That's amazing in the music business.

0:28:590:29:02

Spying an opportunity after Desafinado's success,

0:29:110:29:13

record exec Sidney Frey hatched a plan

0:29:130:29:17

to introduce bossa's originators to the US market.

0:29:170:29:20

-REPORTER:

-In music, if you want to start a movement, you hire a hall,

0:29:230:29:26

Carnegie Hall, to spread the word and the song.

0:29:260:29:30

One of the record executives had this idea to do a concert

0:29:300:29:33

at Carnegie Hall, really presenting Brazilian musicians.

0:29:330:29:37

That was their real entryway

0:29:370:29:39

into what becomes an international market.

0:29:390:29:42

The importance of this opportunity was almost lost

0:29:450:29:47

on the more laid-back members of the scene back in Rio.

0:29:470:29:51

I'd never had been to the States before and I was amazed, you know,

0:30:290:30:32

the autumn in New York, you know, it's a beautiful season.

0:30:320:30:36

We went to the Carnegie Hall and they were lines of people,

0:31:100:31:15

it was crowded. Carnegie Hall was crowded.

0:31:150:31:18

And it was full of important musicians in the audience.

0:31:180:31:22

And we realised that something important was happening.

0:31:220:31:26

-REPORTER:

-This was the official send-off for bossa nova.

0:31:430:31:45

But the movement was already on its way and it's been going

0:31:450:31:48

all the stronger since.

0:31:480:31:50

In the record shops, racks full of bossa nova

0:31:500:31:53

that swings like Castro-Neves and some that's sweet and lyrical.

0:31:530:31:57

In either form, bossa nova is in.

0:31:570:32:00

# Blame it on the bossa nova

0:32:000:32:02

# With its magic spell... #

0:32:020:32:06

Some people just got on the bandwagon, didn't they?

0:32:060:32:08

Yes. The bossa nova dance craze, for instance, which never existed.

0:32:080:32:12

-What was that?

-I have no idea.

0:32:120:32:14

But you had to have a dance because Latin music was all about dancing.

0:32:140:32:20

Now, samba is a dance, bossa nova, as far as I know, never was.

0:32:200:32:24

With the bossa nova,

0:32:240:32:26

the basic step is taken to the side with a little twist motion.

0:32:260:32:30

# Blame it on the bossa nova

0:32:300:32:33

# With its magic spell... #

0:32:330:32:36

Bossa nova became so popular,

0:32:360:32:39

advertising just love it.

0:32:390:32:40

Everything was bossa nova. "Oh, it is a new building,

0:32:400:32:44

"buy the new building and the apartments,

0:32:440:32:46

"they are the bossa nova apartment."

0:32:460:32:48

They said, "Oh, you buy the new suit, bossa nova suit."

0:32:480:32:53

Bossa nova icebox, bossa nova lawyers.

0:32:530:32:56

THEY LAUGH

0:32:560:32:58

Many things. And now I heard here on the radio the bossa nova haircut,

0:32:580:33:03

bossa nova shoes.

0:33:030:33:05

This is not very good for the music.

0:33:050:33:09

Madison Avenue's version of bossa was but the latest fad

0:33:180:33:21

aimed squarely at a middle-class America and its preconceptions

0:33:210:33:25

about life south of the border.

0:33:250:33:27

Brazil represents, for the United States,

0:33:280:33:31

a utopian other, so Rio,

0:33:310:33:34

the most beautiful city in the world.

0:33:340:33:37

Brazilian culture, sensual, uninhibited,

0:33:370:33:41

notions of beauty are paramount.

0:33:410:33:46

And when Jobim, Gilberto and Stan Getz got it together

0:33:460:33:49

in a New York recording studio in the spring of 1963,

0:33:490:33:52

the song Jobim pulled from his suitcase

0:33:520:33:55

brought this fantasy to life

0:33:550:33:56

in the form of The Girl From Ipanema.

0:33:560:33:59

SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:33:590:34:02

He and his writing partner, Vinicius de Moraes,

0:34:130:34:15

had composed the song at least a year earlier

0:34:150:34:18

on a typically relaxed day by the beach.

0:34:180:34:21

Vinicius de Moraes, you know,

0:34:210:34:23

he wrote the lyrics and I wrote the music.

0:34:230:34:27

We used to drink some draught, you know,

0:34:270:34:30

and watch the girls going to the sea, to the beach.

0:34:300:34:34

Nobody knew who she was...

0:34:340:34:36

..but she was so beautiful that everybody gasped.

0:34:370:34:41

SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:34:410:34:45

The beautiful girl immortalised in the song had a name,

0:34:450:34:48

Helo Pinheiro,

0:34:480:34:49

and 50 years on, she's still turning heads on her way to the beach.

0:34:490:34:53

The two men, Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes,

0:34:540:34:58

they are sitting at the bar,

0:34:580:35:00

the snack bar, and I was walking to the beach

0:35:000:35:05

and one told to him,

0:35:050:35:09

"Oh, I love the girl. All the time she passes here."

0:35:090:35:15

And when I passed,

0:35:150:35:17

"I am going to make a song for this girl."

0:35:170:35:21

The Girl From Ipanema comes,

0:35:210:35:24

it changed my life because it make me famous.

0:35:240:35:28

Helo Pinheiro became a symbol of the quintessential Rio beach girl,

0:35:370:35:41

but also represented something deeper

0:35:410:35:43

for lyricist Vinicius de Moraes,

0:35:430:35:45

a spiritual godfather to the bossa generation.

0:35:450:35:48

He was a great friend, was a great man.

0:35:480:35:52

Very cultured, very warm,

0:35:520:35:55

and women loved him.

0:35:550:35:58

And believe me, he was short, bald, women just fell at his feet.

0:35:580:36:02

It was incredible.

0:36:020:36:04

THEY SING IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:36:040:36:07

He was a gentleman and he was raised to be like that,

0:36:090:36:12

to believe that a woman should be put on a higher ground,

0:36:120:36:17

to be adored and admired,

0:36:170:36:20

and made for love and forgiveness.

0:36:200:36:23

He wrote that, actually.

0:36:230:36:25

Yes, he probably needed a lot of forgiveness during his life.

0:36:250:36:29

THEY LAUGH

0:36:290:36:30

Oh, yeah, definitely.

0:36:300:36:32

But, you know, how could you not forgive him? He was adorable.

0:36:320:36:35

A true bohemian, by the time the Bard of bossa began writing songs,

0:36:350:36:40

he'd already led a colourful life as a diplomat and man of letters.

0:36:400:36:44

He was a very important romantic poet.

0:36:440:36:47

One of the most important poets in Brazil.

0:36:470:36:50

And then he became a lyricist.

0:36:500:36:52

And he was one of the greatest lyricist in bossa nova.

0:36:520:36:56

He was the first Brazilian to have a scholarship

0:36:560:37:01

granted by Oxford University.

0:37:010:37:03

And he was very fond of Shakespearean poetry.

0:37:030:37:10

The best Vinicius moments, you have things like,

0:37:100:37:13

"Que coisa mais bonita voce ser,"

0:37:130:37:15

"What a beautiful thing you are."

0:37:150:37:18

So simple things,

0:37:180:37:21

and Shakespeare reached it in Romeo And Juliet or Antony And Cleopatra.

0:37:210:37:27

Very simple things but very beautiful things.

0:37:270:37:30

Vinicius ensured the words in bossa nova

0:37:300:37:34

were taken as seriously as the music.

0:37:340:37:36

And the themes of love, the smile and the flower

0:37:360:37:39

became something of a manifesto for the genre.

0:37:390:37:42

SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:37:420:37:45

However, the English-speaking audience were none the wiser.

0:37:450:37:48

That is until the recording of The Girl From Ipanema.

0:37:480:37:52

SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:37:520:37:54

Back in New York,

0:37:580:37:59

crack lyricist Norman Gimbel had been enlisted to translate

0:37:590:38:02

the Portuguese lyrics into English.

0:38:020:38:05

Best known for his subsequent hits Killing Me Softly

0:38:050:38:08

and the Happy Days theme tune...

0:38:080:38:09

# These days are ours

0:38:090:38:12

-# Happy and free

-Those happy days

0:38:120:38:15

# These days are ours... #

0:38:150:38:19

His interpretation of Garota de Ipanema cuts to the chase.

0:38:190:38:23

The first Portuguese lyrics, first couple lines, are...

0:38:230:38:25

"Olha que coisa mais linda, cheio de graca,"

0:38:250:38:29

which literally is,

0:38:290:38:31

"Look at this beautiful thing, full of grace."

0:38:310:38:35

That's what it is literally.

0:38:350:38:37

In English it's, "Tall and tan and young and lovely,

0:38:370:38:40

"the girl from Ipanema." So it's very different.

0:38:400:38:43

Antonio Carlos Jobim didn't like the translation.

0:38:430:38:47

He was completely furious

0:38:470:38:50

with the words they put in English,

0:38:500:38:54

describing physically the girl

0:38:540:38:58

and not describing the impression

0:38:580:39:01

of something full of grace that walks by.

0:39:010:39:05

When you say full of grace,

0:39:050:39:07

you are referring to Our Lady of Mercy

0:39:070:39:11

and you need a woman to be your saviour.

0:39:110:39:14

But when you say tall and tanned and young,

0:39:140:39:18

you are talking about a beauty contest, it's so vulgar.

0:39:180:39:23

All objections aside, it was decided that at least one verse in English

0:39:230:39:27

would be a good idea after Joao Gilberto had kicked off the song

0:39:270:39:30

in Portuguese.

0:39:300:39:32

Step forward Joao's wife, Astrud Gilberto.

0:39:320:39:36

# Tall and tan and young and lovely

0:39:360:39:39

# The girl from Ipanema goes walking

0:39:390:39:42

# And when she passes each one she passes goes

0:39:420:39:47

# "Ah..." #

0:39:470:39:50

Astrud, who had, as far as I know,

0:39:500:39:54

didn't really have a career here at that point,

0:39:540:39:57

she was the only one who could speak English,

0:39:570:40:00

but she sings it in this karaoke style,

0:40:000:40:03

which is intimate and simple,

0:40:030:40:06

no vibrato.

0:40:060:40:09

Articulation is gorgeous, she's swinging, in her way.

0:40:090:40:13

# But each day when she walks to the sea

0:40:130:40:17

# She looks straight ahead not at he... #

0:40:170:40:21

It was so lovely. She was a girl from Ipanema singing.

0:40:210:40:24

She was the way...

0:40:240:40:26

Nothing... You know, nothing...

0:40:260:40:28

Very natural singing.

0:40:280:40:30

# When she passes each one she passes goes

0:40:300:40:33

# "Ah..." #

0:40:330:40:35

Seduced by Astrud's voice, producer Creed Taylor made a decisive call

0:40:350:40:39

when it came to mastering the single.

0:40:390:40:42

The producer heard her singing

0:40:440:40:48

and then they took Joao Gilberto out,

0:40:480:40:50

they put only Astrud Gilberto singing.

0:40:500:40:54

# Oh

0:40:540:40:56

# But he watches so sadly

0:40:560:41:00

# How can he tell her he loves her? #

0:41:010:41:08

And with that, what started as a track on a Brazilian jazz album,

0:41:080:41:12

sung in Portuguese by a man,

0:41:120:41:14

became a pop single performed by a woman in English

0:41:140:41:17

but with an exotic accent.

0:41:170:41:19

# She looks straight ahead not at he

0:41:190:41:23

# Tall and tanned and young and lovely... #

0:41:230:41:27

This transformed The Girl From Ipanema's global appeal.

0:41:270:41:31

That accented voice

0:41:310:41:33

is something that becomes kind of marketable for the record company.

0:41:330:41:39

We have to take into account not just a sonic quality of her voice

0:41:390:41:43

but all that Brazil represents.

0:41:430:41:46

There is a lot of the foreign...

0:41:460:41:50

look into Brazil that you get through that version.

0:41:500:41:55

Tall and tanned and young and lovely -

0:41:550:41:58

the exotic.

0:41:580:41:59

It is just an irresistible sort of image, isn't it?

0:41:590:42:02

And it allows...

0:42:020:42:05

everyone abroad to project, especially men,

0:42:050:42:08

their fantasies about this woman,

0:42:080:42:11

this Brazilian woman.

0:42:110:42:13

# Tall and tan and young and lovely

0:42:130:42:16

# The girl from Ipanema goes walking

0:42:160:42:20

# And when she passes, he smiles

0:42:200:42:22

# But she doesn't see

0:42:220:42:24

# She just doesn't see... #

0:42:240:42:27

The song was an international smash hit,

0:42:270:42:29

rising to the top five in the Billboard Hot 100

0:42:290:42:32

and number one on the easy listening charts in the States.

0:42:320:42:35

It broke the top 30 in the UK

0:42:350:42:37

and went on to win the Grammy award for Record of the Year.

0:42:370:42:41

What was your father's reaction to his song becoming the record

0:42:410:42:44

of the year and getting a Grammy for being the record of the year?

0:42:440:42:47

It was a big surprise because it was a jazz record...

0:42:470:42:52

..and never a jazz record had sold so much.

0:42:540:42:58

It's accessible, it swings, and then it's in English.

0:42:580:43:01

That was a genius move.

0:43:010:43:03

The public likes it, the musicians like it.

0:43:030:43:06

-It's the perfect record.

-It's a perfect record.

0:43:060:43:08

I think it's a very nice song, I think it's a very well-written song,

0:43:080:43:12

beautiful melody, and incredible lyrics.

0:43:120:43:16

It was like a bossa nova hymn all over the world.

0:43:160:43:20

The Girl From Ipanema has been recorded over 500 times

0:43:200:43:23

by some of the biggest names in music.

0:43:230:43:26

# Tall and tan and young and lovely

0:43:260:43:29

# The girl from Ipanema goes walking

0:43:290:43:33

# When he passes each girl he passes goes

0:43:330:43:35

# "Ah..."

0:43:350:43:37

# When she passes each one she passes goes

0:43:370:43:41

# Daboo-du-daa... #

0:43:410:43:43

It's believed to be the second-most recorded popular song

0:43:450:43:47

of the 20th century, second only to the Beatles' Yesterday.

0:43:470:43:52

And the Beatles themselves were honoured at the same Grammy awards

0:43:520:43:55

in 1965 for Best New Artist.

0:43:550:43:59

Just as The Girl From Ipanema broke bossa nova into the mainstream,

0:43:590:44:03

the Brits arrived on American turf with their own new beat,

0:44:030:44:06

rendering all that came before yesterday's music.

0:44:060:44:09

However, this changing of the guard on the front line of pop was trivial

0:44:210:44:25

compared to the real invasion going on back home in Rio.

0:44:250:44:29

It was an impact for us.

0:44:290:44:32

Everything has changed. Freedom of the press - over.

0:44:320:44:36

The bossa nova President Kubitschek's successors

0:44:380:44:41

had begun to lean radically towards communist regimes.

0:44:410:44:45

On April 1st, 1964,

0:44:470:44:49

a US-backed military coup

0:44:490:44:51

brutally called time on Brazil's experiment with democracy.

0:44:510:44:55

When the military came in '64 and took power,

0:44:560:45:00

nobody knew it was going to become so bloody and dangerous.

0:45:000:45:04

There were people being taken to prison, being tortured,

0:45:040:45:07

artists being censored.

0:45:070:45:09

Suddenly, you know, we lived under

0:45:090:45:12

a very, very oppressive dictatorship.

0:45:120:45:17

Everybody was afraid to say anything because maybe some neighbour...

0:45:170:45:22

This kind of crazy thing that, for Rio, Brazil, it was crazy.

0:45:220:45:26

We were persecuted. There were announcements on the radio -

0:45:260:45:30

"Don't ever play Antonio Carlos Jobim."

0:45:300:45:36

They put him on the blacklist.

0:45:360:45:39

SHE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:45:460:45:48

Bossa nova's fixation on romantic themes and its air of refinement,

0:45:560:46:01

which so fitted the optimism of the Kubitschek era,

0:46:010:46:04

was now at odds with the mood of the nation.

0:46:040:46:07

SHE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:46:080:46:10

The young generations, like my own,

0:46:150:46:18

a lot of people thought bossa nova was not reflecting any more

0:46:180:46:23

the situation of the country because it was too light,

0:46:230:46:26

and the situation was too heavy.

0:46:260:46:29

So all of a sudden that was old news.

0:46:290:46:32

SHE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:46:320:46:34

Some people carried on writing, you know,

0:46:400:46:44

love songs and ignoring everything else, as always, of course.

0:46:440:46:49

But some people thought, no, no, no, we can't, we have to,

0:46:490:46:53

we have to try and do what we can, using music perhaps, let's try.

0:46:530:46:58

There was a big split on bossa nova from that time on.

0:46:580:47:03

Menescal stayed on this bossa nova.

0:47:030:47:07

Light, jazz, beaches, little boats.

0:47:070:47:13

Loving the afternoon.

0:47:130:47:15

SHE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:47:350:47:37

But for others, it was time to take a stand,

0:47:400:47:43

and the split deepened in the bossa generation

0:47:430:47:46

when Nara Leao turned her back on her old crowd by the beach.

0:47:460:47:50

She was very outspoken about bossa nova

0:48:210:48:23

-and how it was dead and useless...

-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

0:48:230:48:27

-Yeah, very much.

-They called her the bossa nova muse.

0:48:270:48:30

But being the clever woman she was,

0:48:310:48:34

she wouldn't stand in that role forever,

0:48:340:48:37

she was a very political head.

0:48:370:48:40

They started to do...

0:49:050:49:07

..music and lyrics about peasants,

0:49:090:49:15

oppressed people, and all the lyrics should be aggressive,

0:49:150:49:21

more related to our origins.

0:49:210:49:24

We should do music for the people.

0:49:240:49:27

SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:49:270:49:31

Nara Leao was not alone in her opinion.

0:49:310:49:34

SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:49:340:49:36

And as the counterculture kicked in hard at the end of the decade,

0:49:370:49:41

Tropicalia blasted away the quiet minimalism of bossa with a heady mix

0:49:410:49:45

of rock and roll and psychedelia.

0:49:450:49:48

Bossa nova was nothing any more,

0:49:490:49:52

was completely despicable,

0:49:520:49:55

was corny, was cheesy, was...

0:49:550:50:00

something very old.

0:50:000:50:02

And the great bossa nova stars,

0:50:020:50:06

Jobim, Joao Gilberto, they moved to the US.

0:50:060:50:10

Insulated from the turbulent times back home, bossa nova in the US

0:50:140:50:18

had matured like a fine wine into a grown-up music for

0:50:180:50:21

the middle classes enjoying their creature comforts in the suburbs.

0:50:210:50:25

The instrument - guitar. The beat - bossa nova.

0:50:270:50:30

The artist - Antonio Carlos Jobim.

0:50:300:50:34

HE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:50:340:50:36

For Jobim, that was the key to the world.

0:50:400:50:43

For Frank Sinatra to come along and say, "Stop everything,

0:50:430:50:46

"it's bossa nova, it's Jobim,"

0:50:460:50:48

that's like God coming down and saying,

0:50:480:50:51

"This I'm going to put my signature on." That's a big deal.

0:50:510:50:54

Tom Jobim settled into his new position alongside Ol' Blue Eyes

0:50:540:50:58

with consummate ease. The album they recorded together in 1967

0:50:580:51:03

is widely regarded as one of Sinatra's finest,

0:51:030:51:07

and completed bossa nova's induction

0:51:070:51:09

to the great American song book.

0:51:090:51:11

And, of course, in this national TV special,

0:51:130:51:15

The Girl From Ipanema was the jewel of the set list.

0:51:150:51:18

# Tall and tan and young and lovely

0:51:180:51:21

# The girl from Ipanema goes walking and

0:51:210:51:25

# When she passes each one she passes goes

0:51:250:51:29

# "Ah..."

0:51:290:51:33

HE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:51:330:51:35

I love that beautiful performance they did live, playing there,

0:51:410:51:44

in front with the suits.

0:51:440:51:46

And smoking the cigarette, Sinatra is smoking and singing.

0:51:460:51:50

Can you believe this?

0:51:500:51:52

My grandfather is playing the guitar because he was basically

0:51:530:51:56

the piano player but he learned the guitar.

0:51:560:51:58

And Sinatra wanted to have on the album the guitar

0:51:580:52:01

because it looks more Latin, so he asked for it.

0:52:010:52:04

So he had to study a little more.

0:52:040:52:06

Whatever Sinatra asks you to do, you have to do.

0:52:060:52:10

BOTH: # But each day when she walks to the sea

0:52:100:52:13

# She looks straight ahead not at me... #

0:52:130:52:17

Wow. Can't believe it.

0:52:170:52:20

I still can't believe it.

0:52:200:52:22

This is, in a sense, even more of an arrival

0:52:220:52:25

into world musical culture than getting invited

0:52:250:52:29

to perform at Carnegie Hall. This is the real arrival for Jobim.

0:52:290:52:34

This is the mark that he is a major composer.

0:52:340:52:39

I think he was valued in America.

0:52:390:52:42

I don't think the bossa nova people are valued enough in Brazil.

0:52:420:52:46

They would talk about bossa nova, even in a dismissive way, like, oh,

0:52:460:52:50

you know, that's boring, that's over.

0:52:500:52:53

"They sold out to America," was the reaction in Brazil.

0:52:530:52:58

Very Brazilian...

0:52:580:53:00

Jobim had a phrase, in Brazil...

0:53:000:53:03

..success is a personal offence.

0:53:040:53:08

It was so criticised in Brazil.

0:53:090:53:12

This poor man, this genius.

0:53:120:53:14

Few Brazilians have made so much for this country than Jobim.

0:53:150:53:19

In just a few years, bossa nova had gone mainstream,

0:53:190:53:23

growing up from an intimate local beat

0:53:230:53:25

into an internationally renowned repertoire of popular standards.

0:53:250:53:30

SHE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:53:340:53:36

I've been in Romania and Russia,

0:53:450:53:48

so faraway places

0:53:480:53:50

and always the same.

0:53:500:53:52

It's always...

0:53:520:53:55

full of people, sold out.

0:53:550:53:58

And in Japan they are crazy about bossa nova.

0:53:580:54:01

SHE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:54:010:54:04

You go anywhere in the world

0:54:120:54:14

and you can hear bossa nova in major concert halls.

0:54:140:54:17

I've seen Joao Gilberto in Carnegie Hall.

0:54:170:54:21

It's the same repertoire being performed in more or less

0:54:210:54:24

the same way that it has been for the past 50 years.

0:54:240:54:28

In this sense, bossa nova can be deemed a classical music.

0:54:280:54:32

Bossa nova, to me, is art,

0:54:320:54:33

I separate it, I make a distinction there.

0:54:330:54:36

The music that's big in Brazil nowadays is the entertainment music.

0:54:360:54:40

It's music done for people to dance to, to dance,

0:54:400:54:46

to enjoy carnival,

0:54:460:54:49

it's the big masses sort of music.

0:54:490:54:52

SHE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:54:520:54:54

I love entertainment,

0:54:580:55:01

but if I want to kind of be quiet and be taken somewhere else,

0:55:010:55:06

I need the right music for it, and it's not going to be...

0:55:060:55:10

the entertainment music, it's art, I want to go somewhere,

0:55:100:55:13

it takes me somewhere.

0:55:130:55:14

SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:55:170:55:19

Wherever you are in the world,

0:55:250:55:26

the place bossa nova will always transport you to is Rio,

0:55:260:55:30

the birthplace,

0:55:300:55:31

where for many years this precious music was all but forgotten.

0:55:310:55:35

But slowly Brazil has begun to value its greatest cultural export

0:55:350:55:40

and celebrate bossa's founding fathers.

0:55:400:55:43

SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:55:430:55:46

These heroes of bossa nova became...

0:56:000:56:05

part of our landscape

0:56:050:56:08

nowadays in Rio.

0:56:080:56:10

Vinicius de Moraes is a street in Ipanema.

0:56:100:56:15

The neighbourhood celebrated his wonderful song.

0:56:150:56:19

And Tom Jobim is our main airport.

0:56:190:56:23

Now, we have both

0:56:230:56:26

as part of our sentimental and geographical landscape.

0:56:260:56:32

And even away from the beachfront bars and tourist attractions,

0:56:400:56:44

the irrepressible sound of The Girl From Ipanema can still be heard.

0:56:440:56:48

# Tall and tan and young and lovely

0:56:480:56:51

# The girl from Ipanema goes walking and

0:56:510:56:55

# When she passes each guy she passes goes

0:56:550:56:59

# "Ah..."

0:56:590:57:03

I've been here in Rio for a week and I've seen for myself the magic

0:57:030:57:07

that inspired bossa nova.

0:57:070:57:10

Of course, we can't compare today with the golden age

0:57:100:57:13

of the late 1950s and early '60s

0:57:130:57:15

when life here in Rio was good and the whole world fell in love

0:57:150:57:19

with that idyllic image of Brazil

0:57:190:57:21

as painted by the song The Girl From Ipanema.

0:57:210:57:25

# But each day when she walks to the sea

0:57:250:57:28

# She looks straight ahead not at me... #

0:57:280:57:33

You know what? That's OK because that idyllic image still exists.

0:57:330:57:36

You can go down to the beach any day of the week and see your very own

0:57:360:57:39

girl from Ipanema making her way to the white sand

0:57:390:57:42

and the clear blue sea.

0:57:420:57:44

And the music lives on,

0:57:460:57:48

in places like this, high up in the hills above the beach,

0:57:480:57:51

and it lives on in the hearts of the people here

0:57:510:57:55

because bossa nova is the soundtrack to that ideal version of Brazil.

0:57:550:58:00

SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:58:000:58:03

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