FAREWELLS

the Brazilian guitarist and singer/songwriter who helped create the bossa nova genre, died July 6 at his home in Rio de Janeiro. He was 88. Born João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira, he famously arrived at a new variation on samba in the mid-1950s by bringing his guitar into the bathroom of his sister’s house for extended practice sessions. featured a new song, “The Girl from Ipanema” (written by colleagues Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes), which became a worldwide hit. With the exception of a two-year stay in Mexico, Gilberto remained in the United States until 1980, when he returned to Brazil. His life thereafter was famously reclusive, confined to a quiet residence in Rio’s South Zone; his last live performance was in 2008.