O movimento

As I was doing research on Brazilian music - and specifically bossa nova - for my 5th grade classes, I came upon some pretty funny stuff...there was a pretty rich cultural exchange between France and Brazil in the 60s, which led to some French singers covering Bossa Nova tunes, or penning some numbers inspired by it. Or even coming up with some interesting collaborations, like Françoise Hardy working with Tuca on La Question.

But there's also Sacha Distel doing Incendie à Rio...! Check out also this funny video of him dancing a bossa on the quays in Paris, complete with female dancers. I wonder what the kids would think if I played it for them...he's also supposed to have covered Desafinado and Samba pour une seule note but I couldn't find it. I know he does a pretty decent version of Corcovado. By this guy:

(Antonio Carlos Jobim)

I also found out that Moustaki did a cover of Aguas de Março, one of my favorite Tom Jobim songs: Les eaux de Mars. I still think Elis Regina sings it best. See her do it live with Tom, this is amazing:

And I knew about Pierre Barouh's love song to bossa nova from the movie Un Homme et Une Femme, Samba Saravah, a cover of Samba de Bençao, by Vinicius de Morales and Baden Powell- but I didn't know he also recorded a version of Agua de Beber, another beautiful Tom Jobim tune.

The French adaptation is actually pretty nice, a little wistful, maybe too wistful for fifth graders?

And speaking of Baden Powell, I might have to play them some of his Afro-Sambas to illustrate the link to African music- like this Canto de Xango. 

I could go on and on really, but to end, here's the muse of bossa nova, Nara Leão, doing another one of my favorites, Morena Do Mar:

It's been a crazy 90˚F (30˚C)  in San Francisco, so this is perfect...