|  | Bebel Gilberto is the daughter of João Gilberto, whom along with composer Antonio Carlos Jobim created Bossa Nova. Her mother, Miúcha, is one of Brazil's pre-eminent singers and one of only three vocalists to share an entire album with Antonio Carlos Jobim. Her uncle is the respected composer and singer Chico Buarque. With a legacy like this, music has always been Bebel's destiny. "I was surrounded by beautiful sounds from the cradle onwards, whether it was listening to my father or harmonizing with my mother while I sat on her lap. My mother deserves all the credit, because she was very important for me, in terms of learning how to sing. She was really my first singing teacher and taught me how to improvise and do vocal harmonizing, since I was a little girl."
Unsurprisingly then, at an early age Bebel became a force to be reckoned with in the Brazilian music scene. She worked with the legendary Brazilian singer/songwriter Cazuza on her debut EP 'Bebel Gilberto', which was released in 1986 to critical acclaim. Tracks from 'BebelGilberto' were covered by other artists and two of these became big Brazilian pop hits of the '80s and '90s respectively.
In 1991, Bebel Gilberto left Rio and returned to her birthplace, New York, where she began working with seminal artists ranging from David Byrne to Deee-Lite's Towa Tei, bringing the Brazilian sound to the metropolis' dance floors. Her work with Towa Tei culminated in the worldwide dance hit 'Technova' and acclaimed appearances on his albums Future Listening and Sound Museum. Bebel enthuses, "Collaboration is second nature to me. Music embodies communication, relationships, emotions. What better way to explore these realms than in musical association. This just seems so natural." Hardly surprising from a singer who performed on-stage at Carnegie Hall with her mother and the great Jazz musician Stan Getz when she was just nine years old.
TANTO TEMPO
By the end of the decade Bebel started to expand her musical horizons once again. Her dear friend and producer, Béco Dranoff thought it would be good to introduce her to the Brussels based Crammed Discs label. A working relationship was struck and very soon Bebel was recording in Brazil, alongside producer Suba (the brilliant Yugoslavian expatriate from São Paulo). She decided it was time to lay her soul on the line with her first studio album Tanto Tempo, a groundbreaking album of modern Brazilian music album 10 years in the making that redefines the genre. Bebel says, "The album is intensely personal. Even the classic Bossa Nova tracks I have covered on the record are delivered in a way that is very particular to my life and experiences. I believe that the listener will sense this intimacy. The album's name in Portuguese in a way means, 'So long'. Tanto is 'so much' and tempo is 'time'. It's funny - sometimes people make jokes and say, "It's taken you so long.""
Tanto Tempo is a departure point for Brazilian music as well as a return to the spirit of the simple sophistication of Bossa Nova. The production values are fiercely contemporary but respectful to the traditional heritage. New tracks such as 'Close Your Eyes' and the album's title track are enveloped by standards such as 'Samba da Benção' and Gilberto Gil's 'Bananeira' featuring the legendary João Donato on keyboards. For Bebel, it has represented a time of exploration both of herself and her culture. "The album could not be anything other than what it is. It is the perfect representation of who I have been and who I am now. It's like my child." Among the album's many collaborators are Amon Tobin, Carlinhos Brown, João Parahyba, Smoke City, The Thievery Corporation, Celso Fonseca, Mario Caldato Jr, and producer Suba, who died tragically before the album was finished.
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~taken from http://www.bebelgilberto.com/bio.html ~ |
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