A night of nostalgia with `The Girl From Ipanema'

A night of nostalgia with `The Girl From Ipanema'

By Dini Sari Djalal

JAKARTA (JP): In 1963, famed American jazz saxophonist Stan
Getz and Brazilian jazz guitarist Jiao Gilberto released a record
entitled The Girl from Ipanema.

The song became a worldwide success, eventually winning a
Grammy for musical excellence. Astrud Gilberto, Jiao's teenage
wife and the breathy voice singing on the record, became an
overnight celebrity.

Three decades later, the wide-eyed gamin has matured into a
respected recording artist in her own right, and was recently
awarded by Blue Note Records for outstanding contributions in the
field of jazz. From Oct. 10 to Oct. 15, she and her backup band
will be performing in Jakarta's Blue Note Jazz Club and
Restaurant.

Gilberto began her show here with One Note Samba, a popular
piece written by Stan Getz. It was one of the few songs of the
evening, along with the exceptional and timeless It Must Be
Springtime and The Girl from Ipanema, that were made famous by
the series of memorable concerts in the 1960s performed by
Astrud Gilberto, Jiao Gilberto and Stan Getz.

There were some traditional Brazilian songs in the set, which,
in line with the strong Afro-Caribbean elements of Brazilian
culture, featured a lot of vibrant percussion and drumming. A
particularly memorable moment was when the band finished playing
the calypso tune Festa de Berimbal and drummer Duduka da Fonseca
performed solo onstage with only a berimbal. This instrument can
only be described as a stringed bow with a coconut attached to
one end. Music is made by plucking the string and the coconut
slightly. It is amazing how many notes and sounds could be made
by one string.

Gilberto then sang scat-style for many funky samba pieces,
such as Yokohama and Zurich 3 A.M.. Scat is a free-form style
where the singer mutters indecipherable sounds to the rhythm of
the music, reacting to the emotions of the song with poignant
notes rather than lyrics. She seemed most comfortable singing
scat, and her voice was suited to the casual style.

A friend recounted that her mother once saw an Astrud Gilberto
concert in the 1960s in Europe. She remembered that Gilberto
hardly moved onstage and sang with little expression, while
wearing a see-through shift dress. It was astonishing, she
remarked, how much charisma and sensuality Gilberto conveyed
without actually doing very much at all. Her appeal had much to
do with her seemingly naive and youthful demeanor, and with the
cultural scene of the 1960s, which was just awakening to European
and Latin American cultural influences.

In the 1960s, Brazilian bossa nova was immensely popular in
Indonesia. It became a household word with the release of The
Girl from Ipanema. Franki Raden, an Indonesian music critic and
composer, explained that, "Since western music was banned by
President Sukarno in 1959, Latin music replaced it as the base of
Indonesian popular music."

Orkes Gumarang, a then-famous Indonesian orchestra, gained
popularity by playing Latin music. Percussionist Dullah, who
remains in demand today, had long used Latin rhythms.
Acknowledging that the roots of jazz lies in African tribal
music, and that Latin culture is a hybrid of European and African
cultures, Raden remarked that "Jazz music can't leave Latin
music."

As for the popularity of Latin music in Indonesia, Raden
stated that, "It just takes different forms, but Latin music has
always been popular here. In the 1960s it was Astrud Gilberto and
bossa nova, and then it was samba, and now it is fusion. Chick
Korea may be what is trendy now, but basically it is Latin music
that Indonesians like." The strong drumming and percussion
element of Latin music may be another aspect to its popularity in
Indonesia, which also has a great tradition of drumming in its
ethnic musical styles.

On Monday night, Gilberto again was wearing a see-through
garment, this time a skirt, with lace leggings underneath. She
also limited her stage movements to swaying from side to side.
But the audience was no longer filled with bossa nova aficionados
eager for a touch of Brazilian style, and, as a result, the
impression was less than captivating.

Unfortunately, this has much to do with Gilberto's voice.
Gilberto admits to not having any formal training as a singer,
and that her professional singing career began by accident.

As a teenager, she made friends with a lot of amateur
musicians, and, at 19 she married Jiao Gilberto. She used to
sing a lot at home, and, one day, while Stan Getz and Jiao were
working in the studio, they asked Astrud to sing The Girl from
Ipanema, which was written by Djobim and the Brazilian Poet
Vinicius de Morais. Her little-girl voice and deadpan delivery
were the perfect complements to the languorous music and winsome
lyrics.

Thirty years on, her voice is still the occasionally-cracking
monotone. Like Nico of the Velvet Underground, what matters is
not her skills, but her enigmatic presence. Astrud Gilberto still
gives pleasant performances, but there remains very little of the
enigma.

When asked if she is continuing her musical career because she
has a deep passion for it, she replies, "I wouldn't use the word
passion, but I like music. Creating different things is very
motivating."

Songwriting

Perhaps as an acknowledgement to her humble beginnings, she
adds that, "Performing is just a detail. Songwriting has become
as important to me as singing."

Music has become a family occupation. Her eldest son
Marcello, whom she had during her five years with Jiao, is a
guitarist based in Philadelphia. He has just completed co-
production, with Astrud, of her latest album. Gregory, her son
from her second marriage, is currently traveling with her and
often acts as her road manager. She has also set up a production
company called Gregmar Productions, named after her two sons.

As for her infamous ex-husband Jiao, Gilberto stated that he
is still alive, but remains a "secluded person". She has no
explanation of why he is so reclusive, especially since he is
held in such great esteem by musicians worldwide. "Once in a
while, he does concerts in Europe", is all she will add. As for
her time with him, she remarked that "It is such a vague memory.
I feel like it was in another incarnation."

Astrud Gilberto has been based in New York since the 1960s.
She is best remembered for making Brazilian bossa nova and samba
music more accessible to American and worldwide audiences, but
she acknowledges that success in North America requires singing
in English and living in the proximity of recording studios and
producers.

When told that many Indonesians enjoy her music but cannot
necessarily justify the expense of the tickets -- at Rp 100,000
per person and Rp 50,000 for students -- Gilberto answered that
she would like to give a free concert in Indonesia.

The concert that I saw was not particularly well-attended, and
the audience did not seem too enthusiastic about the performance,
but rather appeared to be there only because they could afford
entertainment with their dinners.

Prior to her current engagements, Gilberto had never been to
Indonesia, much less performed here. "I enjoyed the Indonesian
audience very much, and it is a shame that more cannot attend the
concerts," she said. "Maybe I will arrange with the promoters to
put on something more accessible to a wider audience."