AllMovie

Brazil is a nation whose culture is rich with musical influences, though for a long time most Americans only knew the country's music through Carmen Mirdanda, the singer and dancer with the fruit-basket headgear who turned Brazil's music into a playful Latin caricature that was acceptable to U.S. audiences. But in the 1960's, the rise of Bossa Nova brought Brazil's music to listeners around the world in purer and more honest form, and when Astrid Gilberto and Joao Gilberto collaborated with jazz legend Stan Getz on a recording of "The Girl From Ipanema", the song became a major hit and discerning listeners became aware of the richly sensuous pleasures of Brazilian music. Filmmakers Guto Barra pays homage to Brazil's music and how it has traveled across the globe in the documentary Beyond Ipanema, which chronicles the nation's diverse musical community as well as how the music has been embraced in America, as a major Bossa Nova concert at Carnegie Hall is recreated and we visit a school in New York City where the students study traditional Brazilian percussion music. The film also charts the rise of Samba, Bossa Nova, Tropicalia, Favela Funk and more, and includes rare performance footage from Tom Ze, Os Mutantes, Bebel Gilberto, CSS, Apollo Nove and many more, as well as interviews with David Byrne, M.I.A., Devendra Banhart, Creed Taylor and many more. Beyond Ipanema was an official selection at the 2009 Chicago International Film Festival.