Hablemos de amor

Since its creation in the late 1950s, Bossa-nova has become an indispensable part of Brazilian music. The style’s strong evocative power won over artists from all around the world and earned recognition for many first-rate musicians whose works are now seen as classics.

Rooted in dance and eventually becoming its very own artistic movement, the history of tango is an epic one; and its future truly looks limitless. A musical genre with hybrid origins, it remains one of the most incredible creations to come out of Río de la Plata. “It’s the only thing we don’t ask Europe for its opinion on,” wrote Argentina’s Macedonio Fernández, the man that young Jorge Luis Borges admired “to the point of devout and passionate plagiarism.” A number of coincidences in the late 19th century gave rise to this style of music. As musicologist Carlos Vega said: "no one really tried to create tango." And yet, here it is; complete with its own traditions and innovations, as well as its own golden age, ill-fated artists, myths and rituals.

In the late 1960s, a group of young Brazilian artists rose up against the ruling military junta by fusing local popular music, rock and avant-garde. Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Os Mutantes and their friends invented tropicália, one of the most original musical adventures of the 20th century.