{ "slug": "bossa-nova", "name": "Bossa Nova", "aliases": [ "bossa", "new wave", "joão gilberto" ], "description": "Samba reduced almost to nothing in the beach apartments of Rio at the end of the fifties: a whispered vocal, a guitar playing a rhythm that implies the percussion rather than stating it, and jazz harmony underneath.", "origin": { "place": "Rio de Janeiro, Brazil", "year": 1958 }, "lineage": [ { "genre": "samba", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/samba/", "inherited": "The rhythm, folded into one instrument. João Gilberto's right hand plays the surdo, the tamborim and the agogô at once on nylon strings, which is why bossa needs no percussion section to still be samba." }, { "genre": "jazz", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/jazz/", "inherited": "The chords. Jobim was writing altered dominants and unresolved sevenths off American records, which is what let a samba sound like Debussy and gave American players something to hold on to." } ], "bpm": { "min": 110, "max": 140 }, "updated": "2026-08-30", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/bossa-nova/", "trackCount": 8, "curatedBy": [], "playlists": {}, "tracks": [ { "rank": 1, "trackKey": "joao-gilberto--chega-de-saudade", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/joao-gilberto--chega-de-saudade/", "title": "Chega de Saudade", "artist": "João Gilberto", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/joao-gilberto/", "year": 1958, "label": "Odeon", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The record everyone agrees started it. Gilberto's guitar and voice sit so far back in the mix that the engineers thought something was wrong, and Brazilian music changed in two and a half minutes.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Jo%C3%A3o%20Gilberto%20Chega%20de%20Saudade", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=kMQFLcyoXm0", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 2, "trackKey": "antonio-carlos-jobim--garota-de-ipanema", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/antonio-carlos-jobim--garota-de-ipanema/", "title": "Garota de Ipanema", "artist": "Antônio Carlos Jobim", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/antonio-carlos-jobim/", "year": 1962, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Written at a bar table about a girl walking to the beach, and now perhaps the second most recorded song in existence. Familiarity has not damaged the harmony.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Ant%C3%B4nio%20Carlos%20Jobim%20Garota%20de%20Ipanema", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RY1t3IqpWVI", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 3, "trackKey": "joao-gilberto--desafinado", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/joao-gilberto--desafinado/", "title": "Desafinado", "artist": "João Gilberto", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/joao-gilberto/", "year": 1959, "label": "Odeon", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A song about singing out of tune, which is a defence of the whole style against the critics who said exactly that. Jobim's joke, delivered deadpan.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Jo%C3%A3o%20Gilberto%20Desafinado", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rhq53sCfRU", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 4, "trackKey": "astrud-gilberto-and-stan-getz--corcovado", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/astrud-gilberto-and-stan-getz--corcovado/", "title": "Corcovado", "artist": "Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/astrud-gilberto-and-stan-getz/", "year": 1963, "label": "Verve", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Astrud had never recorded before and was in the studio because she was married to João. The unschooled flatness of her delivery is exactly what the song needed.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Astrud%20Gilberto%20and%20Stan%20Getz%20Corcovado", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=VEMWhrfFVDc", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 5, "trackKey": "antonio-carlos-jobim--insensatez", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/antonio-carlos-jobim--insensatez/", "title": "Insensatez", "artist": "Antônio Carlos Jobim", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/antonio-carlos-jobim/", "year": 1961, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A descending line borrowed from Chopin, and the most desolate thing Jobim wrote. Vinicius de Moraes's lyric accuses the listener directly.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Ant%C3%B4nio%20Carlos%20Jobim%20Insensatez", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PHIe9B5plDI", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 6, "trackKey": "elis-regina-and-antonio-carlos-jobim--aguas-de-marco", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/elis-regina-and-antonio-carlos-jobim--aguas-de-marco/", "title": "Águas de Março", "artist": "Elis Regina and Antônio Carlos Jobim", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/elis-regina-and-antonio-carlos-jobim/", "year": 1974, "label": "Philips", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A list of objects — a stick, a stone, the end of the road — and the two of them audibly delighted with each other. Frequently voted the best Brazilian song ever written.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Elis%20Regina%20and%20Ant%C3%B4nio%20Carlos%20Jobim%20%C3%81guas%20de%20Mar%C3%A7o", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=E1tOV7y94DY", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 7, "trackKey": "joao-gilberto--samba-de-uma-nota-so", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/joao-gilberto--samba-de-uma-nota-so/", "title": "Samba de Uma Nota Só", "artist": "João Gilberto", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/joao-gilberto/", "year": 1960, "label": "Odeon", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "One note, held while the chords move underneath it. Jobim demonstrating that the harmony was always doing the work, and doing it as a pop single.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Jo%C3%A3o%20Gilberto%20Samba%20de%20Uma%20Nota%20S%C3%B3", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=AcgoxJ9mUp8", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 8, "trackKey": "baden-powell--berimbau", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/baden-powell--berimbau/", "title": "Berimbau", "artist": "Baden Powell", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/baden-powell/", "year": 1963, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Bossa turning back towards Bahia and capoeira rather than towards jazz. Powell's guitar is percussive in a way Gilberto's deliberately is not.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Baden%20Powell%20Berimbau", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rrK7oRrARV8", "exact": true } } } ] }