Bebel Gilberto

Gilberto in 2010, photo by Prphotos.com

Birth Name: Isabel Buarque de Hollanda Gilberto de Oliveira

Place of Birth: Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S.

Date of Birth: May 12, 1966

Ethnicity: Brazilian – Portuguese, as well as Indigenous, African, Spanish, Catalan, distant Italian, Basque, Dutch, German, and Sephardi Jewish

Bebel Gilberto is an American and Brazilian singer. She is associated with bossa nova.

Bebel is the daughter of Brazilian singers Miúcha and João Gilberto. Her uncle and aunt, mother’s siblings, are singers Chico Buarque and Ana de Hollanda. Her parents were living in New York City for a brief time while she was born. She then lived in Mexico, before settling in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at age five, and later moving between NY and Rio.

Bebel’s uncle Chico has referred to his Indigenous, African, and Jewish ancestors. Some of Bebel’s distant ancestors were Arnaud Florentz Boeyens de Holanda, who was born, c. 1515, in Utrecht, Netherlands, and moved to Pernambuco, Brazil; and Felippe Cavalcanti, who was born, c. 1525, in Florence, Tuscany, Italy, and also moved to Pernambuco; as well as Jorge Burgues (1691-1766), the first settler of Montevideo, Uruguay.

Bebel’s paternal grandfather was named Joviniano Domingos de Oliveira (the son of José Gonçalves de Oliveira). Joviniano was born in Bahia, Brazil. José was the son of Zeferino Gonçalves de Brito and Alexandrina Oliveira.

Bebel’s paternal grandmother was Martinha do Prado Pereira (the daughter of Jovino Antonio Pereira and Olivia Moreira do Prado). Martinha was born in Bahia. Jovino was the son of Francisco Pereira and Maria Constança Pereira. Olivia was the daughter of Benevides Moreira do Prado and Martina da Encarnação Moreira do Prado.

Bebel’s maternal grandfather was writer, journalist, and sociologist Sérgio Buarque de Hollanda (the son of Cristóvão Buarque de Hollanda Cavalcanti and Heloísa Gonçalves Moreira). Sérgio was born in Cambuci, São Paulo. Cristóvão was born in Pernambuco, the son of Manuel Buarque de Gusmão Lima and Maria Madalena Pais de Hollanda Cavalcanti. Heloísa was born in Rio de Janeiro, the daughter of Eduardo Gonçalves Moreira and Filomena Castro Alves.

Bebel’s maternal grandmother was Maria Amélia de Carvalho Cesário Alvim (the daughter of Francisco Cesário de Faria Alvim and Maria do Carmo Carvalho). Maria Amélia was born in Rio de Janeiro. Francisco was born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of José Cesário de Faria Alvim Filho and Amélia Callado de Miranda. Maria do Carmo was born in São Paulo, the daughter of Álvaro Augusto da Costa Carvalho and Carolina Vieira Barbosa.

Sources: Genealogy of Bebel Gilberto – http://www.geni.com

Genealogy of Bebel’s mother – http://www.familysearch.org

14 Responses

  1. GuidoJohn says:

    Can you mention where her Italian heritage is.

  2. andrew says:

    Her mother was part Afro-Brazilian I think

  3. jorger65 says:

    She also has remote German and likely Sephardi Jewish ancestry on her maternal grandfather’s side, and Basque and Italian (Ligurian) ancestry on her maternal grandmother’s side, from ancestors born in Uruguay and Argentina (where her Spanish and Catalan ancestry also comes from)
    One of her ancestors was an Italian farmer and the first settler of the town of Montevideo https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Burgues
    https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/GMKB-R64

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