Playing the heartstrings.

• Author: Holston, Mark
• Position: Brazilian composer Luiz Bonfa - Music

"I must warn you about one thing," the voice on the telephone cautioned while extending an invitation to drop by for a visit: "I'm not living in a grand style these days. My former wives got most of my money and my homes in Rio! And please, let me give the directions to your cab driver or you'll never find me!"

So began my quest to meet the musical genius whose haunting melodies and remarkable abilities as a guitarist have left an indelible imprint on the soul of modern Brazilian music. With the astonished cab driver still trying to make sense of the complicated directions Luiz Bonfa had given us, we inched through Rio de Janeiro's chaotic midday traffic and headed south along the coastal highway to the beach-side community of Barra de Tijuca where the famed composer lives in self-imposed seclusion on a steep hill overlooking the sea. At the end of a rutted dirt street, Bonfa's home closely resembles the musical refuge detailed on his long-forgotten album from the mid-1970s called Sanctuary. "Away and apart," the recording's liner notes described, "a relief from the usual, the ordinary."

Today, at the age of 71 with his 50th album winning rave reviews around the world, the man who has created some of the most listened to popular music of the twentieth century lives a life of relaxed introspection surrounded by the natural beauty of the Brazilian countryside, the mementos from a career that has spanned over five decades, and secret passions like the rusting collection of vintage automobiles that overflows from his garage. Best known for the award-winning theme music he penned for the 1959 film Black Orpheus, the story of Bonfa's life contains the romantic flair and sense of serendipity he has woven into the dozens of hit songs he's authored since the late 1940s.

A Carioca, born in Rio in 1922, young Luiz began study of the guitar with his father before graduating to formal lessons at the age of eleven with the noted Uruguayan master Isaias Savio. The budding guitarist had just reached the age of thirteen when Savio moved to Sao Paulo. "I was a little lost when he left," Bonfa confides today. "Everyone is lost when they lose a good teacher." Recognized as one of Latin America's most influential classical guitarists of his day, Savio had helped Bonfa build a solid foundation of classical techniques, but the fledgling artist soon discovered another musical mistress with more appeal. "Years later, I met him in Sao Paulo," Bonfa recalls. "I told...