Nelson Pereira Dos Santos pays tribute to the bossa nova

In his new documentary A música segundo Tom Jobim (The Music According to Tom Jobim), Nelson Pereira Dos Santos celebrates Tom Jobim, the pioneer of bossa nova. The movie provides fascinating glimpses of the giant of Brazilian jazz and shows how he inspired some of the world’s greatest musicians.

The mythical bossa nova piece The Girl from Ipanema has been covered by singers of every generation from Frank Sinatra to Amy Winehouse. The man behind the song, known and loved all over the world, was the famed Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, better known by the name of Tom Jobim.

Tom Jobim is considered to be the father of bossa nova, a subtle blend of samba and jazz allied to lyrics that melancholic and poetic. The suave allure of bossa nova has charmed Brazil for over half a century, and brought Tom Jobim worldwide fame as a composer.

Tom Jobim died in 1994 at the age of 67, leaving behind him fifty or so songs that have become standards of Brazilian music. Long an admirer of his work, Nelson Pereira Dos Santos has brought together documents and archives to pay a documentary tribute to Jobim where the music speaks for itself, without commentary.

In his movie, Nelson Pereira Dos Santos shows many of the artists who included Jobim’s music in their own repertoires. The legendary Ella Fitzgerald and the talented Diana Krall, along with Henri Salvador and around thirty other major voices together celebrate the legacy of the great Brazilian composer in a tribute entirely in music, to the jazz and salsa rhythms of bossa nova.

TK

The film will be screened on Tuesday 22 May at 7.45 pm, in the Salle du Soixantième