Manha de Carnaval (Morning of Carnival)

“Manha de Carnaval” is considered to be one of the most important Brazilian jazz songs that helped establish the "Bossa Nova" (new rhythm) movement in the late 1950s.

The "bossa nova", unlike "samba", which is highly percussive and very hot in emotion, is cool and contains a lyrical or simple story. Written and recorded by Brazilian guitarist and composer Luiz Bonfá, Manha de Carnaval is probably the best-known song from the award-winning 1958 movie, ”ORFEU NEGRO” or “Black Orpheus“.

"Manhã de Carnaval" is the song that most people think about first when they talk about composer/guitarist Luiz Bonfá. He was born in Rio de Janeiro on October 17, 1922. As a kid, Bonfá taught himself to play the guitar. At the age of 12 he had a chance to take classical guitar classes, but he would only become better known in the '40s, when at age 24 he was invited to play at Rio's Rádio Nacional. He was instrumental in spreading the budding bossa nova, specially in the U.S. where he lived during the '60s, playing with such names as George Benson, Stan Getz, Quincy Jones and Frank Sinatra. He went back to Brazil in 1975, but stayed connected to the United States. He died in Rio on January 12th, 2001.