Bim Bom is a different book about Bossa Nova. Here the genre
is discussed on the basis of its origins taking as its starting point
the most representative artist of the movement: João Gilberto.
The book is not only interested in the influences by Johnny Alf, João
Donato and several others as the precursors of Bossa Nova. The historic
Elizete
Cardoso album Canção do Amor Demais (1958),
where the Bahian João Gilberto first used his different beat
in the songs "Chega de Saudade (No More Blues)" and "Outra
Vez (Again)," is
dissected, analyzed and scrutinized at levels sometimes impressive,
but also at levels where the reader will inevitably ask whether Gilberto
really thought of all of those details. Well, if you have ever read
anything about the Gilberto phenomenon, you know what he is capable
of when it comes to being a perfectionist.
The book is divided into two parts. The first part is all about the
analysis of the guitar beat. If you do not have musical any knowledge,
you will likely skim these pages fast. Even with some musical background,
the reader might find the first three chapters a bit too technical
and academic (the book is, in fact, Garcia's master's thesis) to the
point of leaving you dizzy. Many times I asked myself what the purpose
of such detail was and whether this work was truly directed to academicians
only. The author's intention finally reaches a decisive point half
way through the book, more precisely on page 98. He says that his
intention -- clearly explicit throughout the whole study --
is precisely to evaluate João Gilberto's guitar rhythm
via his intervention in Brazilian music.
Well, it seems to me like a rather long introduction to expose the
author's intention. Before that, the discussion focused on the various
classifications of pre-Bossa Nova songs: "Solidão (Loneliness)" (1954), "Teresa
da Praia (Teresa of the Beach)" (1954), "Mocinho
Bonito (Handsome Guy)" (1957) and several other sambas-canções.
There was also some discussion about the traditional samba-canção
and the use and acoustic guitar techniques applied to those songs.
When
we get to the section addressing the regular and non-regular beat present
in Bossa Nova chords, the author brings us closer to the book subtitle,
the contradiction. It is interesting to read this:
In conclusion, the two articulated Bossa Nova principles are
the regularity, which governs the bass, and the non-regularity,
which orients the chords on the variation of the base which
is sometimes played. Please note that this articulation sounds
with no conflict, because in the course of the song, the non-regularity
comes from the regularity and the regularity is reinforced by
the non-regularity.
In other words, there is balance in the guitar beat even though
it might seem like an "asymmetric design," the author says.
Those two ideas, in reality, complement each other in João
Gilberto's guitar accompaniment. To close this first part, Bim
Bom discusses
the ideology of Bossa Nova arguing that it is simultaneously samba
and not. The author states that Bossa Nova is defined "by conciliating
the negation with the affirmation of samba."
