ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the role of the bossa nova movement in reformulating the language of Brazilian popular music in a tribute to Tom Jobim. Bossa nova was the outcome of an intentional search for a new mode of musical expression among the youths of Rio's privileged classes. But its specificities as a style were defined by the way in which particular individuals used the resources available to them in responding to these new musical demands. Thus, just as bossa nova was a product of an era, it was a product of the genius of those involved in its creation. Brazilian musicologists have often described the 1950s as an era in which popular music entered a vacuum, only regaining direction towards the end of the decade, when bossa nova made its debut. Experimentation was at the heart of the informal music-making that united a group of young people living in the exclusive neighbourhoods of Copacabana and Ipanema.
