Introducing the best beats of bossa nova

There are a lot of alternative music genres out there that are waiting to be explored. One of my favorites is bossa nova, a type of Brazilian samba and jazz mix. You can hear its roots in percussion and intricate, unorthodox rhythms, the backbone to any song.

Bossa nova is sunshine music through and through, and in the sunny state of California, there’s plenty of inspiration to listen to it. It’s nearly impossible not to be in a good mood when it’s playing. The key to this genre is flow; there are hardly ever any breaks in the songs. Everything happens in a smooth order, and any bossa nova song will have you nodding your head or tapping your foot from start to finish without any interruptions. The percussion section is in control of your sense of rhythm while the song plays. Despite there being odd accents in the rhythm from the percussion, it always resolves perfectly to keep you on beat.  

Bossa nova is good party music, but it’s also perfect to take a siesta to. The more up-tempo songs are guaranteed to move some feet and put smiles on a lot of faces. The slower songs are great to relax to, or good background music for a small get-together. Whatever your preference, this music is uplifting and good clean fun. The go-to artist when it comes to this genre is the saxophonist Stan Getz, who keeps songs flowing with his smooth playing. There’s a quality to his playing that has a distinct sound of familiarity, even if you’ve never heard any of his songs before.

My first experience with bossa nova was with the song “The Girl From Ipanema,” which features Stan Getz. The music is by Antônio Carlos Jobim while the Portuguese lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes. It has a haunting and melancholy message that comes through with the saxophone solo. Since then, I’ve been hooked, finding new songs to this day to add to my collection. The genre isn’t as well known as it should be, but I haven’t met anyone yet who doesn’t like it, so listen up!