Living in Copacabana Palace, Creator of Bossa Nova João Gilberto Works on a New Project

11/10/2015 - 09h17

João Gilberto has turned his back on the sea. At 84 years of age, the man who created Bossa Nova has moved out of his Leblon apartment, which had views of the Atlantic, and where he has been holed up for decades, and has checked into the Copacabana Palace, Rio's most famous hotel.

"Yes, he's spending some time at the Copa. And he's working on a new project," said Claudia Faissol, a businesswoman and mother of Gilberto's youngest daughter.

When asked about the new project, Faissol said she was in traffic and asked for the question to be sent via email. However, she did not respond to the email and would not answer any more calls.

To bypass the silence that surrounds Gilberto, the report spent two days at the hotel waiting for him to emerge - without success - and talking to hotel employees.

But famous for having received icons as Mick Jagger, Gene Kelly, Nelson Mandela and Princess Diana, the Copacabana Palace says it does not discuss any details regarding its guests.

Gilberto is receiving special treatment at the hotel, including a free breakfast served in his room. Though the communal breakfast is served at 10:30am, the musician does not usually rise until 5pm.

Although there is an acclaimed restaurant at the hotel, Gilberto's eating habits have not changed. His preference is still the steak at the Degrau restaurant. "At least three times a week he orders food here," says manager Sebastião Alves.

Gilberto does not usually invite others to dine with him. He orders food for himself, has another meal delivered to a companion, and they eat at the telephone. He leaves the dishes on the floor outside his room, which is made up the nights that Gilberto goes out.

One of the few to ignore the "do not disturb" sign which hangs permanently from the door handle is the singer Bebel Gilberto, Gilberto's daughter. In August, she published four photos of her father at the hotel on Instagram.

Gilberto is not staying in the main building. He preferred another located behind the swimming pool, which was home to the hotel casino until 1949, when the ban on gambling came in. His 70m2 suite does not have sea views, being located at the back of one of the highest floors.

Until the start of the year, Gilberto had been living at an eighth-floor apartment in Leblon. He would spend months without leaving the apartment, and tried to maintain cordial relations with his neighbors, though there were problems arising from the poor state of his apartment.

Residents say that Gilberto would not let builders, electricians or cleaners enter to do any work. However, just two months ago, the apartment was renovated. "We don't know whether it's for when João comes back, or whether there's going to be a new resident," said one employee.

The signs seem to suggest that Gilberto will indeed return to Leblon. "Yesterday he had food sent to his old house," said the manager at Degrau. "He's in a phase of coming and going," added Faissol.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

Read the article in the original language

	Reprodução
	Joao Gilberto, creator of Bossa Nova, and his daughter Lulu