Brazilian Music: Bossa Nova

[Updated April 29th, 2015]
Brazil has produced many musical styles. One of the most famous is the Bossa Nova, made famous by the song The Girl from Ipanema  (伊帕內瑪姑娘) (Garota de Ipanema in Portuguese).

Here is a version sung by Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim, with onscreen lyrics (tan, samba, sway are explained below the fold)

The English is OK, but the Portuguese lyrics are missing diacritics (small marks above certain letters). After you watch the Sinatra version, be sure to watch the next version in correctly-written Portuguese (even if you don't understand the words, just enjoy the lovely music and the gorgeous women). The English words are sung by a woman with a Brazilian accent (you should get used to foreign accents in English):

Tall and tan and young and lovely [tan = with beautiful brown skin]
When she walks she's like a samba [samba = Brazilians dance the samba during the Carnival in Rio]
That swings so cool and sways so gentle [sway = move gently from left to right]

Here is a bossa nova gospel song by Gilberto França:

Here is a very popular version (10,000,000 hits) of the Girl from Ipanema, sung by Astrud Gilberto (notice the Brazilian accent) with Stan Getz playing the saxophone):

Stand By Me sung bossa nova style (a lovely version sung with a foreign accent [Brazilian?]):

 

If you enjoy singing in English, check out lyricstraining.com, a website that lets you practice songs in several languages. The song is played one or two lines at a time (depending on game mode) and pauses until you fill in a missing word. Try practicing Stand By Me (the Ben E. King version): http://lyricstraining.com/play/ben-e-king/stand-by-me/HI4VxsiViI#