Hoki Tokuda -- Orfeu no Uta（オルフェの唄）

I never saw the 1959 movie "Black Orpheus" but a song from it, "Manha de Carnaval" could be the second bossa nova song that I became well acquainted with after Jobim's "The Girl From Ipanema". The first time I heard it was as a cover done by chanteuse Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）when I got one of her audiotapes as a souvenir from my mother back in the early 1980s. Then, much later during my time in Japan, I learned that the late great jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi had done his own version of it via a BEST hits collection.

Recently, I discovered this 1968 version, titled "Orfeu no Uta" (Orfeu's Song) by singer-actress Hoki Tokuda（徳田ホキ）through her album "Love Forever in Bossa Nova". I'm convinced that it would take a majorly strong effort to actually make a bad version of "Manha de Carnaval", and happily, Tokuda doesn't make any effort to do so. Her efforts are focused on a jazzier, perhaps Sergio Mendes style with a bit of hip-swinging although I think as with the other covers of this bossa classic, this ought to be appreciated with a cocktail on some chaise lounge on a balcony.

The one thing that got my notice when skimming through Tokuda's biography via J-Wiki is that the Tokyo-born singer, whose real name is Hiroko Tokuda（徳田浩子）, was once married to the American writer Henry Miller between 1967 and 1977. However, although J-Wiki states that she was his 8th wife, Wikipedia claims that she was actually his 5th wife.

For comparison, here is the original "Manha de Carnaval" (Carnival Morning) by Luiz Bonta and Antonio Maria. Not surprisingly, considering how popular it became outside of Brazil, the list of musicians and singers covering it is very long, and that's not including Japanese singers.