Our First Show!

Hey Guys,

Thanks for checking out our show and this, our first blog. Eric and I are excited to spend the next months with you as we delve into the music of Brazil, music of the Portuguese language, music inspired by Brazil, share recipes with you, provide you with important cultural information, let you know about the happenings around town where you too can experience a little bit of Brazil in Madison,  and even teach you a word or 16 of Portuguese. Our show will always be there for you from 1:00-2:00pm every Monday to bring a little happiness to what could be the worst day of the week depending on how cloudy your world is.  Be a regular listener, call in, heck, get everyone you know to listen and let's make this great, together. 

This week we explore the wonders of Bossa Nova, or at least as far as you can cover in 60 minutes. To grasp Bossa Nova a bit better, we can look at Gene Lees' statement off the original LP liner notes of Quincy Jones' Bossa Nova Big Band, 

Bossa Nova - which means "New Wave", "New Voice", or "New Thing" - represents a revolution against traditional samba. Rhythmically, it is much more subtle and flowing than samba, yet no less swinging. And it has a feeling that would best be described as controlled movement...There is an important difference between Jazz and Bossa Nova, besides the obvious ones. Jazz puts the rythmic emphasis on the second and fourth beats of the bar. Samba, including Bossa Nova, achieves its swing through a push on the first beat of the bar. There is one more little oddity about Bossa Nova rhythm: One member of the rhythm section plays a shade ahead of the others producing a beat that at first sounds detached and irrelevant, as if there had been a carpenter in the studio knocking in nails the day the record was made. In time, you come to see just how pertinent that advanced beat is. It helps produce the curious swing that is absolutly requisite to effective Bossa Nova. One jazzman said, 'Jazz makes me want to tap my foot. Bossa Nova makes me want to move my whole body.'

We hope it had the same effect on you. If not, we hope you enjoyed. See you next week!