A longa arte de Tom Jobim | Ep.6: O samba mais bonito do mundo

Hello, I'm Arthur Nestrovski and I'm here again to talk about the subject of all subjects: the art of Antonio Carlos Jobim. And we have with us once again, total luxury, Paula Morelenbaum. Thank you very much, Paulinha.

This song was composed in an unusual way for Tom Jobim, very quickly. Jobim was with his wife, Teresa, at Sítio do Poço Fundo that you visited, right? And the house was under construction, it was being renovated, and he had the idea for the song there.

Lyrics and music, according to him. And Teresa herself confirms that he took a piece of bread paper, used to wrap bread. That's what they had there.

He took the paper, there is the portrait of the manuscript, the bread wrapping paper. . .

And practically the entire letter. It was done like this. From then on, he began composing the music for Águas de Março.

Well, this is a composition that is so well known and it occurs in such a spontaneous, generous way. We all have this in our memory, but when we look into it, there are some elements that are worth pointing out. Let's first just give you a quick refresher here, just for the sake of it.

It's a stick, it's a stone, it's the end of the road It's a stump, it's a little alone It's a shard of glass, it's life, it's the sun It's the night, it's death, it's the noose, it's the hook It's peroba do campo, it's the knot in the Caingá wood, candeia, it's Matita Pereira It's wind wood, a fall from the bank It's the deep mystery, whether you like it or not It's the wind blowing, it's the end of the slope It's the beam, It's the vain, summit party It's the rain raining, it's riverside talk Of the waters of March, it's the end of the tiredness It's the foot, it's the ground. . .

Well, it's crazy beautiful. As always, Jobim, we play a chord, play a bar and are already drawn into a universe. And we all here entered into the magic of the song Águas de Março.

I made a point of playing up to this point for a reason, even looking at my hand you could see that I started in this position. I only came back to her after everything Paula sang. However, the song always uses the same chord pattern.

This pattern is repeated virtually from the beginning to the end of the song, but it will be repeated with cuts and irregularly. Right at the beginning, when we were singing these verses, what happens is that if you're not thinking very carefully, I'm going to show you what that's like. If you're not thinking about what verse you're in in the lyrics, you're going to get lost, because they're swirls.

That harmony returns. It doesn't go back to the beginning. She's in the middle, she goes to that point again.

And it keeps coming back. A crashed disk. As if it were a whirlpool of water until, finally, for the first time, the tonic was touched.

She settles down. It's the foot, it's the ground, it's the road march And then he returns to the beginning of this chord template. This will happen throughout the entire song.

Like I said, it's like there's a pattern and that pattern is being repeated, but it's not always repeated from the beginning. That makes all the difference. We could do.

. . Is it a caltrop, a nail, a point, a point?

It's a caltrop, it's a nail, it's a point, it's a point It's a dripping drop, it's a bead, it's a tale It's a fish, it's a gesture, it's a shining silver It's the morning light, it's the brick arriving - It's the firewood, it's the day - It's back It's the end of the road - It's the cane bottle, the shrapnel on the road - Before time Now it's going to change. . .

It's the design of the house, it's the body in the bed - Another harmony - It's the car that's broken down, yeah the mud, it's the mud It's a step, it's a bridge, it's a toad, it's a frog It's a remnant of forest in the morning light It's the waters of March closing the summer It's the promise of life in your heart Now something happens also surprising. The moment you reach the end of this verse. .

. Anyone who has heard this recording and the 'Elis e Tom' recording will also remember this. It is an instrumental interlude that begins in the most aberrant tone.

We ended up here. Totally unexpected. It started again, but without lyrics.

Instrumental only. But a verse began. I'm going to do two verses.

Just touched. It's a snake, it's a stick, it's João, it's José - It's a thorn in the hand, it's a cut in the foot - We're back. - It's the waters of March closing the summer - He came back ahead of time.

It's the promise of life in your heart - Now again. - It's wood, it's stone, it's the end of the road It's a stump, it's a little alone - Change - It's a step, it's a bridge, it's a toad, it's a frog It's a beautiful horizon, it's a fever Tuesday - And now it's very different. - It's the waters of March closing the summer It's the promise of life in your heart Well, now many different things have happened here, but you noticed, even looking at my hand, how this chord pattern is returning unexpectedly.

To do this, just think about where you are in the stanzas. If not, it is impossible. Something very different happened in that last verse she sang.

What is this here? We are in this music the entire time, in a space, let's say, sunny, illuminated. Suddenly things came full circle.

. . .

a Tuesday fever . . .

It's the waters of March closing the summer It's the promise of life in your heart Well, what happened? Let's get back to the theme of this song. If I were on the piano, the theme from Águas de Março.

. . It's one of those many Tom Jobim themes, we've seen it in other songs, like Insensatez, for example.

It's a theme that is made up of almost nothing. Being Tom Jobim, at the moment this takes on a melodic contour with accents linked to the lyrics being sung and gains harmonic fulfillment. Everything changes.

It becomes life. It's like. .

. Anyone who's cooking knows what that's like. You have inert material, then you put it in the pan and it suddenly starts to heat up and the ingredients start to mix, it seems to come alive.

It became food. It's not just ingredients. It's like that too.

You have inert ingredients, you have three little notes that are nothing and it becomes the most beautiful music in the world. Now, another very important thing: this topic. If you're picturing a piano, it's the three white keys.

You are in the center of the keyboard on the note C, you will play E, D, C, E, D, C, E, D, C. So it's just the white keys. This has a technical name.

It's not complicated. It's called 'diatonic'. Diatonic is everything that is just white keys, let's put it that way.

You're in C major, you only play the white keys on the piano. It's called the diatonic scale. It's the natural scale.

When you start to add little black notes , that is, semitones, instead of just playing, you will do. . .

The intervals are smaller. You are putting the black note in the middle of the white note. These are the chromatic notes.

What happens in Águas de Março in an absolutely incredible way is that we have a theme that is diatonic, a theme that is white notes, but the accompaniment line is a chromatic line. The music begins. .

. It's wood, it's stone, it's the end of the road You have a line. In other words, a chromatic descending line, so it is a diatonic theme, with the intervals of the white keys, but you have the accompaniment that has this descending line.

There's more to it, folks. This is a very particular lyric. Everything that goes one way seems to go the other way too.

It's a lyric with a huge vital affirmation, but it has a lot of shadow too. It is a lyric of life and death. It's wood, it's stone, it's the end of the road It's a stump, it's a little alone It's a shard of glass.

. . Up until now, we've had quite heavy emotions, but suddenly it's life, it's the sun .

It's the night, it's death, it's the noose, it's the hook It's peroba do campo, it's the knot of Caingá wood, candeia. They are bushes. Caingá, candle, it's Matita Pereira At that time, the bird sounds.

It's windwood, falling off a cliff It's the deep mystery, it's whether you want it or not. Practically everything that in the lyrics leans to one side, let's say, solar, luminous, affirmative, has its opposite. It is a unique song in this handling of balances.

This handling of balances has its musical equivalent when you have a theme that is diatonic, open, solar, positive, and you have an accompaniment, a bass line, which is a chromatic line. Now go further, because this chromatic line is not just any chromatic line. A descending bass like that.

Tom Jobim knows perfectly well that there is a tradition that dates back to the Renaissance, the Baroque, of using descending chromatic lines to express melancholic affects, feelings of sadness, funeral affects. I will give you one of many examples. A Bach choir.

I mean, it's from a Bach cantata that starts like that. I'll sing the bass. Our!

What song is this. Well. .

. It's no different. One is a samba and the other is a baroque chorale, but it's the same line.

And as if that weren't enough, when the song ends. Did you see what happened here? This coda that everyone remembers and that is always done.

It is the line that was at the bottom that has now gone to the top line. Well, this is composition science. A composer who can do this, and can do this in connection with the verses that are being sung, and can bring the descending, chromatic, tragic line, which is harmonizing a diatonic theme in the coda to the top line, is singing over everything.

. . This, I don't know if there's a better word, but in.

. . In my vocabulary, this really is compositional genius.

This is a degree of craftsmanship and, at the same time, in a song that we know so spontaneously, so wonderfully. This represents, I think, perhaps more than any other, the composing art of Antonio Carlos Jobim. Pay attention to one thing too.

This chord, the beginning of Águas de Março, so well known, is not exactly the chord you expect to start a song. You wait for this one. A song will start.

But not this one. Why? Because it is a dissonant chord, it is a chord that is in the middle of the road.

It seems that the waters have already started, they are coming. You are coming from a place. Now, in addition to that, this rhythmic pattern.

. . Where do you know about this?

It's the heart. It is the promise of life in your heart. No.

In fact, you're already in my bag, too , after the revenge. It caught me in the middle. .

. Something that doesn't exist, that you didn't say, but you could have said. It's the hardest thing in the world.

It's getting Águas de Março in the middle. Because this is the kind of music where you either start. .

. You made a mistake, you have to go back. Never in my life has this happened.

It was the first time. He said: 'let's go', then he was filming, I said: “Ah. .

. ” and went. It worked out.

- By chance. - It's not by chance, it's not by chance. So.

. . The following begins.

I didn't say that here, I could have even said it on air. The only person who knows Águas de Março by heart is Paula Morelenbaum. - It seems like it.

- Nobody knows these words. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone makes mistakes. I could even say that, but there's already too much.

Make mistakes because it's so round, it gets these swirls. People stumble, they make mistakes. It's very difficult.

Everyone knows Águas de Março. You start, then you stop because you can't continue. 'It's the Waters of March', then everyone: 'Eêêê.

” - Oh how happy, this time has come! - But the rest, no one can. .

.