Sérgio Mendes is a Brazilian artist who started his career playing in nightclubs in the 50's. He mainly plays Bossa Nova, a jazz-inflected derivative of Samba, which began booming around that time. This song called Más Que Nada (More Than Anything) became popular with it's catchy chorus. It was remade in 2006 featuring the Black Eyed Peas. Enjoy listening.
The new version featuring the Black Eyed Peas:
I also want to add a couple of other songs by him. In relation to class, I like how a genre, in this case - Samba, can become a type of root for other genres to develop, transform and/or progress. It is interesting how genres and sub-genres can use songs, beats, melodies, etc. as precedents and reform them into something progressive.
I've heard Black Eyed Peas' version of Más Que Nada" before, but never realized it was a Sérgio Mendes song. Going back and listening to the original now, it's interesting to see how they remixed it and made it more current, but kept the melody of the original chorus. I think that just goes to show how catchy and well-written the song is--it's stood the test of time. Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteI love the percussion section in his song "Magdalenha." I remember that song was used in the film "Dance with me" (starring Vanessa Williams and Chayanne, in case you haven't seen it) and after I saw it, I got addicted to it and listened to it over and over.
ReplyDeleteWow. I have definitely heard this song more than once before. I never realized it's origin though. I like how the song continuously incorporated the original base of Sérgio Mendes' original song -- it allowed for the song to be successful in pop culture by adding in the Black Eyed Peas as well.
ReplyDeleteMas Que Nada brings back many memories I played that song with a Jazz group and I do appreciate hearing the Black Eyed Peas version I actually haven't heard that version. I just thought it was pretty interesting that another person would remember hearing these songs when they were a kid because I started playing jazz around the bossa nova style and this was probably one of the first songs I learned to improvise on. Thanks for bringing the memories
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