Audio and visual extravaganza kicks off today with official animated video for bossa nova classic 'The Girl From Ipanema' and unique visualizers for some of the most important songs of the canon.

One afternoon in July 1958, Brazilian guitarist and singer João Gilberto entered a studio and quickly recorded “Chega de Saudade,” an early composition by Vinicius de Moraes and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

It’s as fresh as a summer breeze rolling in gently off the waves, as young as the sun-worshipers crowding the white-hot beaches of Rio. Yet bossa nova — the serenely seductive music that Brazil gave ...

Astrud Gilberto, who was just 22 years old when her lovely, laid-back and sultry vocals on the jazzy bossa nova “The Girl from Ipanema” made the song a massive global hit and one of the most ...

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — "Tall and tan and young and lovely..." You've heard of her. The Girl From Ipanema. You might have come across the bossa nova classic while on hold on the phone, during a long ...

In the late 1950s on the beaches of Rio, an eclectic group of musicians came together to create the distinctive and sensual music known as Bossa Nova. Classic tracks include 'The Girl from Ipanema', ...

Blame it on the Beatles. That’s how Brazilian-born musician and composer Orlando Haddad, 61, explains his leap from Beethoven to rock. “I studied classical piano from the age of eight,” says Haddad, a ...

I really like certain types of jazz and classical music, although I don't know a whole lot about jazz, and even less about classical. With classical, I know what I like when I hear it, but I cannot ...

Chefs, decorators and musicians know the quickest way to perk up the senses is to fuse cultures. Even better is to mix styles that seem to have nothing to do with each other. Several years ago, the ...

Classic Brazilian bossa nova music has a familiar, slow, graceful pulse. NPR's Felix Contreras of Alt.Latino plays some songs for NPR's Rachel Martin. MARTIN: NPR's Felix Contreras is here to tell us ...