Joao Gilberto, the legendary Brazilian musician and songwriter who was a pioneer of the lilting, melodious music known as bossa nova, has died, his son Joao Marcelo announced Saturday. He was 88. The cause of death was not immediately known. `My father has passed,` the son, who lives in the US, wrote on Facebook. `His fight was noble, he tried to maintain dignity in light of losing his sovereignty.` Gilberto, whose soft voice singing `The Girl From Ipanema` in the 1960s made him world famous, was living alone in a borrowed house at the end, deeply in debt in Rio de Janeiro. Known both for his smooth singing voice and his guitar playing, Gilberto brought the sounds of bossa nova -- meaning `new trend` or `new wave` -- to jazz festivals and concert halls around the world, putting Brazilian music on the map. Bernardo Araujo, a music critic for the daily O Globo
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