Vagabond Synth Nerd’s Journal Vol. 197 - In Memory of Sergio Mendes, the Treasure of Brazilian Music, Part I

The Existence of the One and Only, and the Sense of Loss

On September 6th, 2024, the great Brazilian musician Sergio Mendes passed away. He was 83 years old. Our deepest condolences.

On September 8th, I was watching the news and I couldn't help but let out a gasp.
It was the news of Sergio Mendes' death. Sergio Mendes was one of my favorite musicians.
The news anchor was delivering the news in a flat tone, saying that he had been suffering from the aftereffects of the new coronavirus for a long time.
When news reports the death of a famous musician, many of the announcers reading the script will probably not know the music of the deceased musician, so I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds the news reports on TV strangely flat and cold. I felt the same way when I heard the news of David Sanborn's death, and the same when I heard the news of Antonio Carlos Jobim's death in the car on December 8th 1994. I also thought about how Jobim's death anniversary was the same as John Lennon's shooting death... I don't know why, but I couldn't help thinking about such unrelated things.

The newspaper article was written in the context of “Sergio Mendes of "Mas que nada", referring to the Brazilian singer who sang the famous bossa nova song “Mas que nada”. Perhaps that's how news articles are written to convey facts to everyone... But when it's a musician you admire, it's even more frustrating.

He had visited Japan just the year before last, and I thought, “This guy is so energetic! I wonder how long he'll keep doing music?”

Sergio Mendes is …

Sergio Mendes is a Brazilian musician born in 1941. He started performing at nightclubs and other venues in the late 1950s, when the popularity of bossa nova was at its peak.
In 1963, Jorge Ben released “Mas Que Nada” on his album. Three years later, Sergio covered the same song with his band “Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66”. “Mas Que Nada” became a huge hit around the world with its catchy melody and clever lyrics.
In the media, “Mas Que Nada” is often described as a bossa nova song, but I think it has more of a samba feel to it. The impression I get from Sergio's albums and songs is that the image of “bossa nova” is not strong, and I think that the underlying influence is more likely to be samba-canto, which is native Brazilian music. The Brazilian-style melody line that develops from the pre-chorus is the essence of Brazilian music, and it probably had the power to reach music fans all over the world.
However, I think there were other factors at play.

■ Recommended Album: Sergio Mendes “Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66” (1966)

A hugely successful album that includes the classic “Mas Que Nada” released by Sergio Mendes in 1966. It also features Antonio Carlos Jobim's famous songs.
Sergio Mendes, a pianist, proposed a new style of Brazilian music that centered on a band sound and featured female twin vocalists.

Recommended Song: “Mash Que Nada”

Jorge Ben's original version of “Mas Que Nada” starts with a flashy intro featuring horns and other orchestration. On the other hand, Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66's version of “Mas Que Nada” is a full-on band sound! It starts with a flashy acoustic piano intro, which is typical of a pianist's band. It's quite different from the category of bossa nova, but it's more of a fine pop song than anything else. After the powerful intro on the acoustic piano, the chorus of the refrain is performed by multiple people. From the verse, a woman sings a sad-sounding vocal, and from the pre-chorus, another woman sings a melody with a sense of saudade. The song, which is developed with a clear sense of contrast, gives the impression of being very well-calculated. In addition, in the outro, you can hear a piano solo that is like a pianist Sergio Mendes really coming into his own. I think that the honest feeling of music lovers is that they wish it hadn't faded out.
Sergio Mendes is a producer with a particular perspective on music. He has a perspective on what will sell and what will appeal to everyone, including the arrangement of instruments. His sense of arrangement in completing songs is probably his greatest advantage.
On the other hand, Sergio was a musician who knew how to emphasize and develop the saudade-like elements of Brazilian music. This approach was successful in the case of the smash hit “Mas Que Nada”.

Another Kind of Saudade, Different from Bossa Nova

Brazilian music has a distinctive quality that is not found in other pop songs. In 1958, the album "Getz/Gilberto" by João Gilberto and Stan Getz was a huge hit around the world. It was an album that surprised the world with a new type of music called bossa nova.
The album contained songs such as 'The Girl from Ipanema', 'Desafinado' and 'So Danco Samba', which featured melodic lines unique to Brazil that the world had never heard before. Embedded within these melodies was a feeling called 'saudade'. When you listen to Brazilian music, it evokes a nostalgic, wistful feeling. That feeling is called “saudade”. The world shared in that “saudade”, and it spread throughout the world along with the floating feeling of the tension chords. I think that the ability to identify the strengths of Brazilian music and develop songs based on that is the amazing power of Sergio Mendes's vision.
The Brazilian music and saudade feeling you can hear in the following albums are something else.

■ Recommended Album: Sergio Mendes “Horizonte Aberto” (1979)

This album was recorded in Brazil when Sergio Mendes returned there in 1979. As you would expect from a recording made on location, it features a star-studded line-up of musicians including Dorival Caymmi, Oscar Castro-Neves and Toninho Horta.

Recommended Song: “Ultima Batucada”

This song was written by the father of Gracina Leporace, who is the wife of Sergio Mendes and a vocalist. Batucada is a style of samba performance using percussion instruments, and ultima means “last”. It seems to mean the last samba.
It is not an exaggeration to say that all of the saudade of Brazilian music is packed into this refrain. It is a wonderful melody tinged with melancholy, and this kind of melody is not found in other music.

Featured Musicians, Albums and Recommended Songs

• Artists: Sergio Mendes, Dorival Caymmi, Oscar Castro Neves, etc.
• Albums: “Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66”, “Horizonte Aberto”
• Recommended songs: “Mas Que Nada”, ”Ultima Batucada”

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