Format: Kindle EditionChange
Price:£12.54
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
on 4 January 2005
If you look for a comprehensive account of almost all the musicians involved in Bossa Nova including what they earned for what, if you want to know which of Miucha's recipes Joao was crazy about (couscous with fish) or who ironed Joao's pants minutes before he went onstage at the famous bossa nova concert in Carnegie Hall, N.Y. 1962 (Brazilian Vice Consul Dona Dora Vasconcellos - admittedly an absolutely hilarious story), if you can be amused by Brazilian musicians forever coming late to appointments, or drinking themselves into hospital frequently (Vinicius, Baden Powell, Maysa ...) - this is your book. If you care to know who dated who among all those wonderful Brazilian musicians of the 60s or who was the Girl from Ipanema (Heloisa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto, age 18 in 1962) - this book is a must for you.
If you share Ruy Castro's contempt for politically engaged music (however naïve) in times of military dictatorship or if you believe that Tropicalismo, which was started by Gilberto Gil, Tom Ze, Caetano Veloso among others after the air went out of Bossa Nova in 1967, was "a ye ye ye renovation movement" - you'll absolutely love it.
But if you care for the music - if you want to know how musicians worked and felt, what ideals they looked up to and which traditions they respected - forget it and go look for something else.
Faute de mieux (because it deals mainly with the post Bossa Nova period) you might look into Caetano Veloso's own book "Tropical Truth": much more intelligent, much more respectful (especially towards people like Roberto Carlos or Nara Leao), insightful and although pretty intellectual much more heartfelt and humane than Ruy Castro's comprehensive compendium of Bossa Nova gossip.
(Out of disappointment I might make it look worse than it really is: there are amusing and interesting parts. At least you get to learn some about all those fantastic poets and singers and composers, especially Joao Gilberto. But on the whole a huge let down.)
If you share Ruy Castro's contempt for politically engaged music (however naïve) in times of military dictatorship or if you believe that Tropicalismo, which was started by Gilberto Gil, Tom Ze, Caetano Veloso among others after the air went out of Bossa Nova in 1967, was "a ye ye ye renovation movement" - you'll absolutely love it.
But if you care for the music - if you want to know how musicians worked and felt, what ideals they looked up to and which traditions they respected - forget it and go look for something else.
Faute de mieux (because it deals mainly with the post Bossa Nova period) you might look into Caetano Veloso's own book "Tropical Truth": much more intelligent, much more respectful (especially towards people like Roberto Carlos or Nara Leao), insightful and although pretty intellectual much more heartfelt and humane than Ruy Castro's comprehensive compendium of Bossa Nova gossip.
(Out of disappointment I might make it look worse than it really is: there are amusing and interesting parts. At least you get to learn some about all those fantastic poets and singers and composers, especially Joao Gilberto. But on the whole a huge let down.)
