Born in the 1950s, bossa nova was Brazil's answer to jazz.
In bossa nova, elements of Brazilian folklore, especially samba, fused together with the harmonic and improvisational elements from jazz. Through composers such as A.C.Jobim, Baden Powell and J. Bosco, bossa nova became known worldwide. Astrud Gilberto's and Stan Getz's version of "Girl from Ipanema" seems unforgettable, and classics such as "One-Note Samba" and "Corcovado" are still standards today.
Bossa nova was originally sung accompanied only by guitar or sparse percus- sion. The popularity of bossa nova has spawned a wealth of new arrangement ideas, which partly have little or nothing to do with the original form of the sty- le.e "One Note Samba" oder "Corcovado."
Today bossa nova is often played on the drum set, which combines the sounds of various Brazilian percussion colors into one instrument. There are also many bossa nova "lounge" type of remixes that use programmed drum loops as well as other sounds from pop music.
In acoustic ensembles you can transform the cajón into a combination of a beat-box and drum set. The cajón is also quieter, more percussive and requires less space. It is advantageous to borrow several sounds from the cajón's big brother:
Bossa rhythms on the cajón differ from most other cajón rhythms in one significant aspect: in that they are polyrhythmic with each hand playing an independent musical voice. Consequently, the notation for the bossa nova is slightly different. All notes below the staff line are played with the right hand and all notes above the staff line are played with the left hand.
Another unique aspect of interpreting the bossa nova on the cajón is the imitation of the surdo, the samba bass drum. The right hand plays an ostinato bass figure, which in its simplest form is shown in the following example.
In order to phrase the bass voice in a surdo style, the first two bass tones in the bar are raised by applying pressure with the heel of the foot (See also page 18).
As this is very difficult at a fast tempo, you can try this third simpler phrasing possibility.
Each of the following bossa rhythms can be played using any of the three surdo phrasings - very easy in some cases and in other cases requi- ring considerable independence between hands and feet.
