Miúcha, the Voice of Bossa Nova

Brazilian singer Miúcha worked with bossa nova legends such as Vinicius de Moraes, Tom Jobim, Stan Getz, and her brother, Chico Buarque. She was married to the “father” of the genre, João Gilberto. As well as singing on their records, she co-wrote music, but until now her role in this musical movement, and with it the female perspective, has been neglected.

When Míucha died in 2018, her nephew, the director Daniel Zarvos, was already working on this film, in which the singer indirectly tells the story of her life, through her personal archive of photographs, home videos, stories, letters, beautiful watercolors and audio recordings.

Through her father, the young Miúcha met feminist Simone de Beauvoir and moved to Paris, where she worked as a singer. There she met Gilberto, and impulsively decided to accompany him to New York. It is striking that after they married and had a child, she stepped into the background, supporting his career rather than her own. In extracts from her letters and diary, Míucha shares her intimate thoughts about this complicated marriage and her struggles to find her own path—in life and in music.