I recently started listening to Peggy Lee, and I’ve had Caramba! It’s The Samba! running through my head for a couple days. It’s a fantastic song - very upbeat, some nice vocal play - I have no idea what to call it when she holds onto a syllable for a couple beats, but I like it! And I’d like to hear more, but I have no idea what the style of music is. I’m only vaguely aware of Latin music in general, and this is from 1948, which complicates things (hell, the idea that there’s a category of ‘Latin’ music shows how much I know about it…). Any recommendations?
In retrospect, I probably should have provided a link, huh? Well, better late than never, I hope.
Some years back, David Byrne of Talking Heads created a series of collections of Brazilian music. Most of them are good; here’s O Samba. Maybe we’ll have some Brazilians or serious ethnomusicologists along to let us know about “the real” samba; but it’s a great starting point. (There appear to be some interesting newer collections on the Putamayo label.)
The Wikipedia article is stuffed full of information. Bossa Nova is a cool, jazzy variant of the Samba; here’s a classic.
The composer Antonio Carlos (Tom) Jobim wrote wonderful bossa novas that became popular in the Sixties and Seventies. They still sound fresh to me. This album is classic: http://www.amazon.com/Getz-Gilberto-Stan/dp/B0000047CX
That’s where I would start. There are also collections of Jobim’s best works and that sort of thing. Even Sinatra did an album of bossa novas, I believe. Avoid anything with “Blame It On the Bossa Nova” listed.
You can sample the songs from the Getz-Jobim album at Amazon to see if you like them.
Don’t forget the Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd album that was a major factor in launching the Bossa Nova craze: Jazz Samba.
Astrud Gilberto … that’s all you need to know.
Well, for starters I can tell you that this isn’t a samba. It’s a jazzy song with a latin beat. This is a samba, as is this and this (all three are classic sambas of their times and still played often). As you can see there is some variation in what can be considered a samba. There are also sambas which put much greater emphasis just on the rhythm and are mainly for dancing.
Your example, as others have already noted, has more in common with bossa nova, which was a jazz inflected song style derived from samba (this explains why so many bossas are called “samba of…”). Tom Jobim was one of the fathers of the genre and it’s greatest composer, while João Gilberto was arguably its greatest interpreter and was the first to record the characteristic bossa nova rhythm (Astrud Gilberto was his wife and also had a very succesful career). The Getz/Gilberto album already recommended by other dopers is a classic and there are hundreds of others. Elis Regina and Nara Leão were two other very distinguished singers of bossas as well as other Brazillian music. Maybe you could give try to Vinícius de Moraes. Along with Tom and Gilberto he completes the Holy Trinity of bossa nova. He was mainly a lyricist and worked with Tom Jobim in many of his most famous songs and also had very successful partnerships with Baden Powell (their Afro Sambas is a classic and the songs in the link are from this album) and Toquinho, as well as composing many songs on his own.
Thanks for this thread! This is my all-time most favorite-ist of all music genres. Ever.
Hmm, Bossa Nova, huh? I’m passingly familiar with Astrud Gilberto, and I like some of her stuff, but a lot of it is slower than my taste - part of what I love about Caramba! is the upbeat, bouncy feeling. I like music that makes me want to move, you know? But it sounds like that’s maybe not a different genre, but just fast bossa nova?
Also, is there such a thing as Rumba music? Other than ‘whatever you dance the rumba to’? Just wondering because of the line ‘play a rumba for me’.
Hi, runcible spoon. Caramba! isn’t a bossa. It lacks the bossa beat and, if the youtube info is correct, was composed considerably before bossa nova was invented. It’s just that it’s a jazzy song with a latin rhythm, so bossa nova seems to come closest to what you liked. Most bossa renditions are a bit melancholy and may not be as fast or energetic as you seem to prefer, though there are faster renditions that may be to your liking, like this one. However, if it’s high energy you’re looking for and music that makes you want to tap your feet, you’re probably better off looking for some straight sambas or, as far as the Brazilian stuff goes, maybe something like Novos Baianos’ Acabou Chorare or something by Jorge Ben. There’s also lots of really great samba jazz out there and latin jazz as well, much of it very fast and high energy, but I’m not sure if that kind of thing appeals to you. I’m also pretty ignorant of other latin music that’s not tango, so I can’t help you there.
Even though this isn’t directly related to the OP, I have to say I never understood why Astrud Gilberto is so popular in the US. I guess it’s mainly because she was there at the beginning of the craze in the United States by accident of marriage and recorded lots of stuff in English, but she’s far from first rate IMO and isn’t highly regarded here in Brazil (nobody thinks she’s bad, but she’s never mentioned with the best singers of bossas or anything else.) Honestly, she hasn’t that great a voice and her renditions are very monotonous; I think it takes much more technique and subtlety than she has to be a really good bossa singer.
Try the album Brasileiro by Sergio Mendes. Scroll down and listen to some sample cuts. Most of this is real samba school music.