Bossa nova (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈbɔsɐ ˈnɔvɐ] ⓘ) is a relaxed style of samba[nb 1] developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

[5] The synthesis performed by Gilberto's guitar was a reduction of the "batucada" of samba, a stylization produced from one of the percussion instruments: the thumb stylized a surdo; the index, middle and ring fingers phrased like a tamborim.

[6] In line with this thesis, musicians such as Baden Powell, Roberto Menescal, and Ronaldo Bôscoli also understand the bossa nova beat as being extracted from the tamborim play in the bateria.

As early as 1932, Noel Rosa used the word in a samba: The phrase bossa nova, translated literally, means "new trend" or "new wave" in Portuguese.

Within the artistic beach culture of the late 1950s in Rio de Janeiro, the term bossa was used to refer to any new "trend" or "fashionable wave".

[10] Castro claims that the term bossa nova might have first been used in public for a concert given in 1957 by the Grupo Universitário Hebraico do Brasil ('Hebrew University Group of Brazil').

This session was chaired by Carlos Diegues (later a prominent Cinema Novo film director), a law student whom Leão ultimately married.

[12] In 1959, the soundtrack to the film Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro) was released, which included the future Manhã de Carnaval, "The Morning of the Carnival".

[2] By accompanying Cardoso's voice, Gilberto innovated in the way of pacing the rhythm, accentuating the weak times, to carry out a synthesis of the beat of samba to guitar.

[16] Considered the landmark of the birth of bossa nova,[2][16] it also featured Gilberto's innovative way of singing samba, which was inspired by Dorival Caymmi.

[17][18] With the LP Chega de Saudade, released in 1959, Gilberto consolidated the bossa nova as a new style of playing samba.

[23] A more recent reference is the Icelandic jazz pop singer Laufey and her hit song "From The Start", with its bossa nova infused rhythm.

These parts are easily adaptable to the drum set, which makes bossa nova a rather popular Brazilian style for drummers.

There's also some evidence indicating a musical influence of blues in bossa nova, even thought this effect is not immediately recognized in the genre structure.

Now, the characteristic nasal vocal production of bossa nova is a peculiar trait of the caboclo folk tradition of northeastern Brazil.

The musical lyrics of the late 1950s depicted the easy life of middle to upper-class Brazilians, though the majority of the population was working class.