Bossa nova is a type of Brazilian music. Bossa nova means literally "new trend". Antonio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto developed bossa nova as a genre. The first bossa nova single to achieve international popularity was "The Girl From Ipanema".

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The bossa nova musical style evolved from samba but is more complex harmonically and less percussive. Joachim Ernst Berendt, the writer of a jazz book, said that bossa nova is a combination of samba and cool jazz. The influence on bossa nova of jazz styles is often debated, but a similar "cool sensibility" is apparent.

Bossa nova is usually performed on classical guitar and piano. It often performed with percussion and strings.

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