Brazil has given us a lot of great music, going back to the 1960s when Stan Getz and João Gilberto had their jazz crossover hit with The Girl from Ipanema. Another great advocate of Brazilian music to attract American audiences was the late Sergio Mendes, who passed away last year. This week we have a new album, from a Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist João Selva, it’s called Onda.

João Selva, sometimes known as Jonathan Da Silva, is literally the man from Ipanema, born in the Brazilian resort town, the son of a pastor who ministered to ex-prisoners, and who was a big music fan. That rubbed off on the son, who took up the guitar at age 10, and was performing professionally at age 18, traveling the world with his music. He settled in France for a while and formed a trio called Forro de Rebeca. He eventually connected with producer Bruno Hovart, otherwise known as Bruno Patchwork, who produced Selva’s first album in 2017.

Onda which roughly translates as “wave” is Selva’s fourth solo album, and again Bruno Patchwork is in the producer’s chair, and also serves as a multi-instrumentalist. The album is breezy, danceable, vocally appealing and good at evoking hints of the tropics. While many of the tunes have a Latin groove, including some of the classic Brazilian rhythms, there are also hints of 1970 disco and even some Motown-style soul grooves.

All but one track of the album are sung in Portuguese, and translations are not given, but the strength of the music is the rhythmic grooves and Selva’s appealing vocals. The production ranges from mostly a mostly solo track, to pieces with strings, horns and backing vocalists.

Opening is the title song Onda with a danceable tropical groove that can also hint at the African soukous style. <<>>

More oriented toward dancing is Fantastica Bahia, with a horn arrangements that can evoke some of the disco records of decades past. <<>>

Banho de Mer, which according to an on-line translating site, means “swimming in the sea,” takes a somewhat funky rhythmic direction, which is enhanced by the sort of classic-style horn arrangements. <<>>

Taking quite a different approach is Navigante which can mean “sailor,” which starts with an almost classically influenced string-quartet. <<>> Then when the rest of band comes in, the track takes a slower, ballad-like direction. <<>>

Quero Voce or “I Want You” is a nice mix of Brazilian and funk. <<>> And it gets into a danceable instrumental break. <<>>

Distinctively Brazilian pop is the track called Tambor Chambou with its almost percussive vocals and the samba beat. <<>>

Amor em Copacabana goes all out disco in its beat, and with the hybridization with the Brazilian influence, it makes for an irresistibly danceable groove, and is one of the highlights of Onda. <<>>

The album ends with its most distinctive track. Rainbow Love is sung in English with guest vocalist Gabi Hartmann. It’s largely without percussion., but still manages maintain a Brazilian character. <<>>

Onda, the new album by Brazilian singer-songwriter João Selva, is a very enjoyable, rhythmically infectious recording that nicely epitomizes the sound of Brazilian music, going back generations, and with some more contemporary influences. It would have been nice for American audiences to have translations of the mostly Portuguese lyrics, which are not provided even on the artist’s website. But the music’s spirit transcends any language barrier, with the danceable beat and Selva’s appealing vocals. There’s also a pleasing variety in the arrangements.

Our grade for audio quality is a B-plus. As too often is the case, the sound is excessively compressed, and some clarity is lost along with the dynamics of the performances.

For some 60 years now, Brazilian music has been making its way to US audiences, in both jazz and pop configurations. João Selva’s new album is a great example of the pop side of things.

(c) Copyright 2025 George D. Graham. All rights reserved.
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<<>> indicates audio excerpt played in produced radio review

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