ELIS!
Bossa Nova. Cool quiet…
Astrud, Nara…and then, there’s Pimentinha!
Elis Regina Carvalho da Costa.
Little Pepper.
Los Angeles, 1974. One of the most beautiful amalgamations of European “flavah” and Brazilian beats transcends bossa nova and graces popular music as the album “Elis & Tom”. It boasts the bossa classics Triste, Corcovado (Quiet Nights), Aguas de Marco (Waters of March), and tracks that never became pop hits, but illustrate Jobim’s innate attraction to classical composers of the impressionistic and romantic movements: Debussy, Chopin. Emotion transformed. O Que Tinha De Ser — lyric by Vinicius De Moraes. The composer: the incomparable Juan Antonio Carlos Jobim, together with the voice of Brazil — Elis Regina.
For those unfamiliar with her, Elis Regina was the equivalent of France’s Piaf in her native Brazil. You can touch this… real…flesh and blood. Elis and Edith: not porcelain creations — tension and resolve — steeled performances. Self-reflection permeates their interpretations so naturally that they more like personal conversations than performances. Whatever that je ne se quois was, it remains long after the song.
It’s easy to see why Elis was Brazil’s most popular vocalist in her lifetime, and continues to be the “anemometer” by which many are measured — she was furacão — hurricane — her other nickname. Sophistication was not her practice, so, in many ways, she doesn’t fit the concept of a bossa nova singer one might have: that quiet, contemplative, almost whispering stylist — cool and out of reach. Elis was sheer —- power unpredictable and mesmerizing. As a listener, one is conscious of “being” — being in the eye, on the cusp of being blown over the edge of one’s own passiveness. She seized both song and audience.
“She could change in a song; suddenly she was water, wine, cachaça (Brazilian rum). She had complete command of her body and soul.”
Antonio Carlos Jobim
Elis wasn’t stingy —- with either joy or “saudade” — that palpable, indigo longing and loss dyed into the fabric of the Brazilian story. The imperfection of raw emotion makes her curiously present, perfect. She will never sound “dated” or anachronistic. You will wait forever for one false note…one never comes. For all her spontaneity, she never misses. The lyrical fluidity of her voice, arrests in its intensity and facility — Vou Te Contar — one’s ears catch the wave and ride along till it crests and falls.
The irony is that Pimentinha’s visible confidence and “bossa” — her ownership of what she sang — masked an inexplicable, unreasonable fear that is only too tangible for those who suffer from it — anxiety over her own abilities, a lack of self worth that manifested itself in the form of stage fright. Maybe that is what ultimately led to her partaking in a substance known to heighten and “boost” one’s self -perception. Not even close friends knew of her increasing dependence on a drug that ultimately ended her life. The voice was silenced in 1982, at the age of 36. Her accidental death resulting from a mix of alcohol, Temazepam, and cocaine was shocking. An estimated 100,000 people attended her funeral. All of Brazil mourned.
If you haven’t, yet — you must — hear Tom & Elis together on “Elis & Tom”.
I don’t care what your musical preferences are —- bend ‘em and lend an ear. Sure, the orchestral arrangements might sound a bit outmoded to those of you used to a more stark, contemporary approach — however, the songs are the perfectly placed signatures of their composer. They stand on their own without need for embellishment — but, for the unique combination of Tom and Elise…Ah! A beleza que existe…
Tenho saudades tuas.
The “Elis & Tom” Tracks
1. “Águas de Março” Antonio Carlos Jobim 3:32
2. “Pois É” Antonio Carlos Jobim, Chico Buarque 1:43
3. “Só Tinha de Ser com Você” Antonio Carlos Jobim, Aloysio de Oliveira 3:48
4. “Modinha” Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinícius de Moraes 2:16
5. “Triste” Antonio Carlos Jobim 2:39
6. “Corcovado” Antonio Carlos Jobim 3:56
7. “O Que Tinha de Ser” Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinícius de Moraes 1:43
8. “Retrato em Branco e Preto” Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes 3:03
9. “Brigas, Nunca Mais” Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinícius de Moraes 1:39
10. “Por Toda a Minha Vida” Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinícius de Moraes 2:04
11. “Fotografia” Antonio Carlos Jobim 2:46
12. “Soneto de Separação” Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinícius de Moraes 2:20
13. “Chovendo na Roseira” Antonio Carlos Jobim 3:11
14. “Inútil Paisagem” Antonio Carlos Jobim, Aloysio de Oliveira 3:08