WHAT'S YOUR DREAM
One of my favorite genres of music is the Bossa Nova. Based on the title of this post I bet you're thinking that I must have dreamed of being a Bossa Nova singer, dancer, or musician. While I engage in all three of these art forms it has never been my dream per se to pursue it to the heights. Though, being the creative that I am should this have been my path in life I would have been ecstatic.
There are, however, several appealing factors about the Bossa Nova. To begin, just the mere sound of the word, Bossa Nova makes me think of some exotic island where there is always a warm, soft breeze. The air is always scented be it from flowers, food, something indigenous from the culture, or simply from the nearby ocean. There's always and I do mean always the easy rhythm that begins swirling around in your head until it permeates slowly into your soul. Whether while being out on the dance floor, walking amongst the crowds, or coming from somewhere in the distance, the Bossa Nova beat is haunting, inviting, enveloping all at the same time.
Amongst my favorite Bossa Nova musicians are Getz and Gilberto. For those of you who know, and those who don't, Stan Getz plays the saxophone. He specializes in playing the Bossa Nova. In fact, I don't know if I've ever heard him play anything else. His ever-constant accompanist is the lovely Astrid Gilberto. Her silky, soft, quiet yet powerful, incomparable voice meshes with Getz's sax's melodic tone and as if they are one, it is hard to tell where one ends and one begins. You may have heard them on the ever-popular song entitled the Girl From Impanema. Tall and tan and young and lovely, the girl from Impanema goes walking and when she walks, he sighs but she doesn't see.... Not to be undone, Sammy Davis, Jr., was among the many who have a mean rendition of this song but it's Getz and Gilberto, who put it on the map and their version will forever be remembered.
Okay already, so Yvonne, you still haven't told us, where does the dream come in? Do you dream of being the girl from Impanema? Hahaha.... it's enough that I am the girl from Harlem much less having to live up to the standards of being from Impanema. No, this all gets back to an album, featuring you guessed it, Getz and Gilberto where they sing a song that goes, follow the fellow, who follows his dream. There's something thought provoking about that phrase. For me, when in doubt about where I am going, questioning where I've been, and sometimes wondering how did I get to the point where I am now, that lyric comes into my head and I'm okay; again like that haunting melody.
While the current playlist on www.wilsrecordshop.com doesn't contain either of the two songs mentioned above, it does contain a snappy number by Frank Sinatra, who crones just remember the sunshine always follows the rain, so wrap your troubles in dreams and dream all your troubles away. Check it out!
As I once was told, and always will remember, there is a song for everything, situation, and occasion. Find your song and find your dream. To coin a phrase from Samuel Jackson, who asks in the movie, Pretty Woman, what's your dream. Everybody has one. What's yours?
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