Even if the words "bossa nova" translate into English as "new wave," the genre was already decades old when Menescal began the project in 1998. Bossacucanova launched with Menescal plus fellow Brazilians Alexandre Moreira and DJ Marcelinho da Lua, all working under a name that meant "bossa with a new mind," a sound heard on their debut album, Revisited Classics, which was released by the Six Degrees label in 1999. Their sophomore effort, 2001's Brasilidade, was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award in 2002 in the category of Best Brazilian Contemporary Pop Album. Uma Batida Diferente arrived in 2004 with guest vocals from Cris Delanno; then, in 2009, the live album Ao Vivo marked the 50th anniversary of the bossa nova sound. The late Oscar Castro-Neves appeared on the group's 2014 effort, Nossa Onda é Essa, an album that found Bossacucanova adding some sambas to their repertoire. ~ David Jeffries