Music: Blame it on the Bossa Nova

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Joe Davis, the foremost Brazilian DJ in London, who also runs Far Out Recordings, originally became fascinated by the music through Brazilian musicians like Airlo Moreira and Eumir Deodato who performed on the North American jazz records he was playing: "My interest came from knowing that these artists had recorded in America in the 1970s and wondering what the hell they had done in Brazil prior to that." "The Girl From Ipanema" and the explosion of bossa nova in the early 1960s was both a blessing and a curse for Brazilian music. With its bittersweet, plaintive melodies, acoustic guitars, gentle rhythms and the accompanying, hedonistic images of Rio de Janiero as a playground for the rich and the beautiful, the bossa nova captivated an international audience but also lumbered Brazilian music with this restrictive, two-dimensional fantasy. best Brazilian releases of 1997: Various, `Blue Brazil, Volume 2', EMI Records Various, `Brazilica, Volume 2', Talkin' Loud Records Grupo Batuque, `Sumba De Rua', Far Out Recordings Papete, `Barimbau E Percussao', Universal Sound Joyce, `The Essential Joyce, 1970-1996', Mr Bongo Joyce, `Tardes Caricoas', Far Out Recordings Various, `Quartin', Far Out Recordings