The World Music Experiment: Ep. 1

Hello! I know it has been a while since the introduction of the series, but the world music experiment is off to a start. Its been a very busy and very successful few weeks and you can now more regularly expect an episode. So lets start, shall we? Lets pick up right where we left off. So in the intro I discussed the music of Latin America, and left a video of the fantastic Bossa Nova, and Samba musician Joao Gilberto; So we will discuss the Bossa Nova. ''Bossa Nova'' is a music originating from Brazil in Rio de Janeiro around the 1950's. Main musical figures include [my favorites] Joao Gilberto, Stan Getz, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Badi Assad, Astrud Gilberto, Lisa Ono, Nara Leao and many many more. The previous listed people were major players in the expansion of Bossa, especially Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto, and Antonio Carlos Jobim (also known as Tom Jobim) Bossa meaning trend, and Nova meaning new literally translates to new trend [I wonder what the name will be in 200 years?]. Classically, Bossa Nova's instrumentation consists of Nylon Classical Guitar, Piano [or any keyboard i.e Organ, Fender Rhodes, etc...], Acoustic Bass, and Percussion. Bossa Nova is a music that derives from the other and older form of south American music known as the Samba [a music with strong roots in African and Brazilian music] which helps establish its sense of rhythm. Because talking about music is something that takes an extensive amount of explanation, some styles may take a few installments to discuss [Bossa Nova may be one]. Bossa Nova combines elements of Jazz, and samba which helps give it its very distinct sound [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMQNMRJn-Eo]. As you can tell the sense of rhythm is very distinct, and is the most recognizable and consistent primarily throughout Bossa Nova music. To be put simply, if you set your metronome to 4/4 and follow the music, you will see that beats 1, and 3 are the beats emphasized stronger than beats 2, and 4. This is a common factor in Bossa Nova commonly emphasized by the Bass and Guitar. So for now to establish more familiarity with the music here are some links to various Bossa Nova tunes to get the feel, sound, and idea under your ears a bit more until next time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFGQtGJZto8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfy2ggYnxsk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm8ZLJGlD9g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJkxFhFRFDA