WHERE SHE'S BEEN: From the time she performed alongside her mother Miucha and Stan Getz at the Newport Jazz festival -- as a nine-year-old -- Gilberto's led a charmed musical life. Working with the '80s phenomenon Cazuza, she had a massive hit in Brazil in 1986, before moving on to soundtrack work and acting. She arrived in New York in 1991 and found herself in the orbit of Brazilophiles David Byrne, Arto Lindsay, Deee-lite's Towa Tei, and others. Some of Bebel's more high-profile gigs include the RED HOT + RIO benefit compilation, a star turn on Kenny G's CLASSICS IN THE KEY OF G, and a touching duet with her father at Carnegie Hall.

WHY SHE HAD TO LEAVE HOME: "I wanted to go somewhere and start from zero," Gilberto says, "where I would be just another Brazilian singer, not my father's daughter." The answer was New York, where she was born and where her step-brother was also living. "It's hard in Brazil, where everyone knows you and expects things from you. It's also a bit cruel, because if you don't meet the expectations, everyone turns against you."

WHAT SHE LEARNED FROM HER FATHER: Gilberto credits her dad, a renowned guitarist famous for his quiet, muttering vocal style, for teaching her how to sing. "I'll never be a screamer, or use a lot of vibrato. He always said, 'Oh, come on, don't be so affected!' And I'm not a dramatic singer. He taught me that it's all in the details, the inflections."

WILL SHE SING IN ENGLISH: "I'd love to," she confides. "But I feel like Natalie Wood in 'West Side Story'-- even though she wasn't the one who was singing. You know, that Puerto Rican accent that she just couldn't lose. Some people say it's charming, but I get embarrassed." She does sing some in English on TANTO TEMPO. "It's like wearing high heels. You get to pretend," she says. "I love singing in English and pretending to be American."

WHAT SHE'S DOING NOW: Hanging out with Brazilian rap group Planet Hemp at Rio's Carnival 2000, Gilberto's just finished a track that puts bossa nova composer Luiz Bonfá to a hip-hop beat. "It was really great," she says, "Not all rah-rahh-arrgh like rap usually is." She hopes to work with more of the younger artists in her country's vast music scene.

WILL SHE GO TECHNO?: "No. It's too aggressive for my kind of music. That's a young kinda sound -- I think I've already passed it. I care more about melody and harmony." She has worked with some of dance music's leading lights, though, including her producer, the late Suba; Dutch DJs Arling and Cameron; and British junglist Amon Tobin. "Even though I try to be current, I consider myself old-fashioned," Gilberto confides. "And I try to fight against it, to be open to new things."

WHO SHE'S LISTENING TO: Although she confesses to only a limited knowledge of current musical trends -- "I'm really an old lady inside!" she jokes -- Gilberto has a soft spot for soul siren Sade. "She really inspired me," Bebel says. "She showed me the way... She creates a mood with her music, her lyrics, and that's exactly what I'd like to do."

Mark Schwartz