This is not a Bossa for Piano

This is not a bossa (2003) was composed at the request of the Brazilian pianist Antonio Eduardo, to whom the piece is dedicated.

He wanted to encourage the writing of new bossas novas for piano. Michel Lysight took up the challenge with a nod to his own country, Belgium, the title evoking Magritte’s famous painting “Ceci n’est pas une pipe”. If the rhythm of the bossa is used as a starting point, very quickly the changes of measure will distort the game, making this bossa a little bit surrealist. Abrupt key changes serve as a development of melodic ideas. In general ABA‘ form, the whole piece is rhythmically based on two main “ostinati” (one for A, the other for B) played with the left hand. A short coda sees the ostinato of the B part coming back in order to end the piece brilliantly.