1962 O Barquinho | Nara Leão

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Music & Video: 1962 O Barquinho | Nara Leão 1985 | 'Muse of Bossa Nova'
1960s playlist: https://t.ly/AHKD

"Roberto Menescal (born October 25, 1937) is a Brazilian composer, record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and pioneer of bossa nova. In many of his songs there are references to the sea, including his best-known composition 'O Barquinho' ('Little Boat'). He is also known for work with Carlos Lyra, Nara Leão, Wanda Sá, Ale Vanzella, and many others. Menescal has performed in Latin music genres such as Música popular brasileira (Brazilian pop), bossa nova, and samba. He was nominated for a Latin Grammy for his work with his son's bossa group Bossacucanova in 2002 and received the 2013 Latin Recording Academy Special Awards in Las Vegas in November 2013." (Wikipedia)

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"Nara Lofego Leão (January 19, 1942 – June 7, 1989) was a Brazilian bossa nova and MPB (popular Brazilian music) singer and occasional actress. Leão was born in Vitória, Espírito Santo. As a teenager in the late 1950s, she became friends with a number of singers and composers who took part in Bossa Nova's musical revolution, including Roberto Menescal, Carlos Lyra, Ronaldo Bôscoli, João Gilberto, Vinicius de Moraes and Antônio Carlos Jobim. In fact, it was in her apartment in her parents' home in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro that the new music was born in 1958. By 1963, after singing as an amateur for a few years, she became a professional and toured with Sérgio Mendes.

She later left Brazil for Paris and in the 1970s abandoned music to focus on her family. She returned to music later, and when she discovered in 1979 that she had an inoperable brain tumor, she increased her productivity as much as possible. She died in 1989.

She was known as 'the muse of bossa nova.'" (Wikipedia)

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Bossa Nova at Carnegie Hall, 21 November 1962

"Bossa nova was largely unknown in popular music circles outside of Brazil — and even within Brazil, as related by Gilberto Gil below — when a lineup of Brazilian music superstars —including João Gilberto, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfá, and Sérgio Mendes — teamed up with American saxophonist Stan Getz and about 15 other musicians to roll the lilting fusion of Brazilian samba and West Coast 'cool jazz' onto one of the biggest concert stages in the world.

Presented by Audio Fidelity Records and Show Magazine, bossa nova classics performed that night included 'Outra Vez' in the whisper-soft voice of Gilberto and Jobim's rendition of 'Samba de Uma Nota Só.' In addition to presenting the new sound to North America and to the world, the concert also gave birth to the iconic Getz/Gilberto ensemble — that included Jobim and Miltinho Banana from the night's lineup — whose debut release took bossa nova to an even higher level of international recognition when released in 1964.

In a recent interview with Carnegie Hall, Voices from Latin America Artistic Advisor Gilberto Gil explains that he remembered the reaction to the concert 'because it was Carnegie Hall and that had a great importance for me, because it's probably the most prestigious hall in New York and in America. We didn't know — in Brazil — that it was going to happen in New York in Carnegie Hall and with that lineup. We found out about it afterward because of the impact that it had here and the whole reaction in the press and by the critics and by the people — the experts and the musicians — in America. The reaction was so good that we just could not ignore it in Brazil. Then we had a lot of press in Brazil, too. Somehow, it was a surprise for us, too, because at that stage the bossa nova movement in Brazil was not so big yet. So, the Carnegie Hall evening definitely helped the promotion of bossa nova in Brazil. Also, it was fundamental for the spreading of Brazilian music in America and worldwide.'

Reaction to the concert from the legendary New York Times jazz critic John S. Wilson was mixed. He grumbled about the 'forest of microphones,' the amplification which 'reduced the Brazilian instrumental groups to a monotonous mush,' and most of the singers who 'had little to offer.' Gilberto ('several notches above this') and Bonfá (who made 'a positive impression') escaped criticism.

A follow-up concert — reportedly in reaction to poor amplification at the original concert — was arranged several weeks later at the Village Gate in Greenwich Village where many of the same musicians performed.

For most of the artists — including João Gilberto and Sérgio Mendes — November 21, 1962, marked their Carnegie Hall debuts. But in the years that followed, all of the headliners went on to perform multiple times at the Hall."

(https://www.carnegiehall.org/Blog/2012/06/Live-from-Carnegie-Hall-Bossa-Nova)