Nossa Onda é Essa!

Fourteen years ago, Bossacucanova came out with its first album of bossa nova interpretations, breathing new life into an old form, and effectively creating the genre of electro-bossa or Brazilian lounge.  The music press found the album, "Revisited Classics", to be remarkably respectful of the bossa nova traditions themselves, even while incorporating electronics and sampling into the music.  This shouldn't have been so surprising -- after all, one member of the trio, Marcio Menescal, is the son of a well-known icon of the bossa genre, Roberto Menescal.  The fact that he's in a band that utilizes loops, synthesizers, and sophisticated mixing techniques that weren't available when his father composed and recorded just means that this music is evolving, as it should be.  It's an extension of an organic, living tradition that began with Tom Jobim and João Gilberto, and that continues on with the likes of Bebel Gilberto, Eliane Elias, and others.

I listened to "Uma Batida Diferente" (2004) over and over again when I first got it.  It took some of the old compositions and gave them a contemporary voice.  I thought, "This is what Jobim would have wanted his music to sound like, if he were recording today."  It's dreamy and sexy and very chill, and the electronics are such an integral part of the music you don't even think about them.

This latest album, released last month, mostly presents a return to samba, with mixtures of electronica, rock, and funk.  If "Uma Batida Diferente" is a quiet day at the beach, "Nossa Onda é Essa" ("This is Our Wave") is a rowdy Carnaval party that's been crashed by a wild-eyed controllerist.  There is enough to keep a diehard bossa lover like me happy -- two of the tracks, "Adeus America", and "E Preciso Perdoar", are João Gilberto's compositions --  but the direction is definintely more towards good-time, syncopated party music than the complex, subtle harmonies of the bossa nova.  The electronics still are in a supporting role to the music, however -- this isn't house music with a few acoustic bits thrown in.  These guys have a solid understanding of both the music of their country and of electronics, and have produced some beautiful music, even if I can't tell you exactly what instruments each of them plays.

The band has continued to bring in a lot of guest vocalists, this time for every track, and the lineup is a delightful mixture of old and new.  We've got established artists such as Elsa Soares and Emilio Santiago alongside Teresa Cristina, a singer from Rio who has been making the circuit in the large Brazilian cities for a long time, but who is still relatively unknown outside the country.  She sings Cartola's tune "Deixa Pra Lá".  Two of the other tracks feature Wilson Simoninha, another child of an artist of the last era, Wilson Simonal. Then there is Maria Rita, daughter of the late bossa legend Elis Regina, singing "Deixa a Menina" by Chico Barque.  There's also Marcela Mangabeira, probably my favorite among the younger, newer bossa nova voices in Brazil, and Cris Delanno, who with her brightly colored orange hair can often be found performing onstage with the band.  The last track, "Tô Voltando" features members of Monobloco, one of the newer samba percussion schools in Rio that has taken credit for inspiring new interest in batucada (Brazilian street percussion) among young people.

With so many featured performers who are children of great stars, it's clear that Bossacucanova is laying claim to their time -- their wave -- with a sound and a style that's all their own, and done their part to save bossa nova from being relegated to the vintage rack in the used record store.  I love this album.  

Here's a live clip of the band featuring Wilson Simoninha singing his father's composition, "Balança Zona Sul":

Listen online to the new album here.