Hot Tropical Nights. From Bossa Nova to Sabalanco: Elis Regina, Nara Leão, etc.

• 20 November 2026 | 8.00 pm
• Brotfabrik Berlin, Caligariplatz 1

Tribute to Elis Regina, Nara Leão, Sylvia Telles and others – From bossa nova to sambalanço

• Sophia Bicking – vocals
• Allan Praskin – sax
• Paulo Morello – guitar
• C. H. Straatmann – bass
• Felix Astor – drums

The history of Brazilian jazz and bossa nova is inextricably linked to the great female singers of their era. Elis Regina, Nara Leão, Maysa, Sylvia Telles and many others lent their distinctive voices to bossa nova and sambalanço, making this music famous far beyond Brazil’s borders.

Elis Regina (1945–1982) is still regarded today as the most important singer of Música Popular Brasileira. With her extraordinary expressiveness, she fused bossa nova, samba, jazz and, later, MPB into a new musical language. Together with the Jongo Trio and Jair Rodrigues, and later also with Tom Jobim, she shaped modern Brazilian jazz and was celebrated at international festivals – including Montreux. She, too, gave important performances, including at the Bottles Bar in Copacabana with Dom Salvador on the piano.

Nara Leão (1942–1989), often described as the ‘muse of bossa nova’, gave Brazilian music a political voice. Through her legendary programme *Opinião*, she spoke out against social inequality and the military dictatorship, collaborating with artists from the favelas such as Zé Keti as well as with the leading figures of bossa nova. Her music built bridges between the affluent neighbourhoods of Copacabana and Ipanema and the musical traditions of the favelas. Her husband at the time, Carlos Diegues, was a young film director associated with the Cinema Novo movement, who was closely linked to the politically active student movement in Rio de Janeiro.

With her unmistakable voice, Maysa (1936–1977) shaped the emotional samba-canção and paved the way for the intimate, expressive vocal culture of bossa nova, steering the genre towards jazz and sambalanço, much like Leny Andrade and Sylvia Telles.

With this concert, they commemorate a time when jazz and Brazilian popular music merged into a shared musical language. At the same time, the programme tells the story of an era of cultural optimism, whose artistic freedom was increasingly curtailed by the military dictatorship. With the emergence of Tropicália, rock and pop, bossa nova and sambalanço eventually faded into the background – yet their musical legacy lives on to this day.

The circumstances and dynamics of the military dictatorship in Brazil, which lasted from 1964 until 1990, when the first free presidential elections were held, extend as far as 2026, as the award-winning films *Agente Secreto* and *Ainda estou aqui* demonstrate. Perhaps it is also due to the public engagement with this era that Brazilian jazz of the 1960s is suddenly being rediscovered with such vigour.

Sophia Bicking interprets these works with her unmistakable voice and is accompanied by a top-class Berlin jazz band that breathes new life into the sound of Rio de Janeiro, ranging from lyrical bossa nova to rousing sambalanço.

Supported by the Jazz 2026 project funding scheme of the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.