Sérgio Santos Mendes (born Niteroi, 11 February 1… Read Full Bio ↴See Sérgio Mendes.
Sérgio Santos Mendes (born Niteroi, 11 February 1941) is a Brazilian musician. Born the son of a physician in Niteroi, Brazil, Mendes attended the local conservatory with hopes of becoming a classical pianist. As his interest in jazz grew, he started playing in nightclubs in the late-1950s just as bossa nova, a jazz-inflected derivative of samba, was taking off. Mendes played with Antonio Carlos Jobim (regarded as a mentor), and many U.S. jazz musicians who toured Brazil.
Mendes formed the Sexteto Bossa Rio and recorded Dance Moderno in 1961. Touring Europe and the United States, Mendes recorded albums with Cannonball Adderly and Herbie Mann and played Carnegie Hall. Mendes moved to the U.S. in 1964 and cut two albums under the Brasil '65 group name with Capitol Records and Atlantic Records. When sales were tepid, he replaced his Brazilian born vocalist Wanda Sa with the distinctive voice of Chicago native Lani Hall (who learned Mendes' Portuguese material phonetically) and switched to Herb Alpert's A&M label and released Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66. (Hall would later marry Alpert). The album ultimately went platinum based largely upon the success of the single Mas Que Nada and the personal support of Alpert, with whom Mendes toured regularly. Though his early singles with Brasil '66 (most notably Mas Que Nada) met with some success, Mendes really burst into mainstream prominence when he performed the Oscar nominated Burt Bacharach/Hal David song "The Look of Love" on the Academy Awards telecast in March 1968. Brasil '66's version of the song quickly shot into the top 10, eclipsing Dusty Springfield's version from the soundtrack of the movie, and Mendes spent the rest of 1968 enjoying consecutive top 10 and top 20 hits with his follow-up singles, "The Fool on the Hill" and "Scarborough Fair." Though he continued to enjoy adult contemporary chart successes with Brasil '66 through 1971, he would not experience the mainstream chart hits he enjoyed in 1968 until his comeback album in 1983 generated the biggest single of his career, "Never Gonna Let You Go." However, from 1968 on, Mendes was arguably the biggest Brazilian star in the world, enjoying immense popularity worldwide and performing in venues as varied as stadium arenas and the White House, where he gave concerts for both President Johnson and President Nixon.
Mendes' career in the U.S. stalled in the mid-70s, but he remained very popular in South America and Japan. (This disparity became a Seinfeld in-joke.) His two albums with Bell Records in 1973 and 1974, followed by several for Elektra from 1975 on, found Mendes continuing to mine the best in American pop music and post-Bossa writers of his native Brazil, while forging new directions in soul with collaborators like Stevie Wonder, who wrote Mendes' R&B-inflected minor hit, "The Real Thing." In 1983, he rejoined Alpert's A&M records and enjoyed huge success with a self-titled album and several follow-up albums, all of which received considerable adult contemporary airplay with charting singles. By the time Mendes released his Grammy-winning Elektra album Brasileiro in 1992, he was the undisputed master of pop-inflected Brazilian jazz. The late-1990s lounge music revival brought retrospection and respect to Mendes' oeuvre, particularly the classic Brasil '66 albums. He has released over thirty-five albums, and still plays his bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk. His newest album, Timeless released in 2006, featured Chali 2na of Jurassic 5, will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas, Q-Tip, Justin Timberlake, and Pharoahe Monch.
(Text taken in whole from the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Mendes on March 30, 2006)
Magano
Sergio Mendes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Pipoca ciciriçoca
Pipoca ciciriçoca
Pipoca ciciriçoca
Dia de festa de largo
Dia de saci pintar
Majestade tem fechado
É trovão pra todo lado
Raio de abalar o chão
A folia é lançado nos telhados um punhado
De pedras brilhantizadas
Axé, axé, axei, axe, axé, axei
Magano, magano, magano
Axé, axé, axei, axe, axé, axei
Magano, magano, magano
Todo mês de fevereiro
A gente deixa a luz dançar
O suspiro da baleia no meio do mar
Do lado da lira tem com os olhos de jóia
Fruto da poeta negra do meio do lado de trás
O tambor olho pra noite chegar na mudança
Do saberes o risco da maré para ver
Axé, axé, axei, axe, axé, axei
Magano, magano, magano
The lyrics of Sergio Mendes's song Magano celebrate an annual celebration that takes place in Brazil during the month of February. The festivities kick off on Largo Day (Dia de festa de largo) and include a painting of Saci, a Brazilian mythological character. The festivities are marked by thunderous sounds and lightning strikes that shake the ground, while revelers take to the rooftops, showering the streets with stones that shine alluringly in the night. Amidst this pandemonium, there is a sense of joy and magic in the air with people letting their lights dance and even the whales sighs can be heard in the sea.
The song seems to be a tribute to this carnival and the tradition that surrounds it. Mendes portrays the magic of this celebration by combining the sounds of African drums (tambor), folkloric rhythms (Saci), a poetess' lyrical style (Negra), and the power of song (Axé). The frenetic energy of this song is evocative, as it reflects the exuberance that typifies Brazilian street life during this festive time.
Overall, Mendes created an upbeat and joyous song that captures the essence of Magano and celebrates the unique cultural experience of Brazil during carnival season.
Line by Line Meaning
Pipoca ciciriçoca
Chanting and celebrating the festivities with a cheerful and lively ambiance
Dia de festa de largo
A day of festivity where everyone gathers in open space
Dia de saci pintar
A day where mythical entities like Saci come alive in the festivities
Majestade tem fechado
The ruler or authority has closed the voice of the poets
A voz que poetizar
The voice that composes poetry
É trovão pra todo lado
Thunderous energy is everywhere
Raio de abalar o chão
A jolt that shakes the ground
A folia é lançado nos telhados um punhado
The festivities are thrown onto the rooftops in a clutch of vibrant stones
De pedras brilhantizadas
Of sparkling stones
Axé, axé, axei, axe, axé, axei
A shout of encouragement and excitement for the festivities
Magano, magano, magano
Referring to the name of the celebration and the excitement that comes with it
Todo mês de fevereiro
Every February month
A gente deixa a luz dançar
The people let the light dance
O suspiro da baleia no meio do mar
The whale's sigh in the middle of the sea
Do lado da lira tem com os olhos de jóia
Beside the lyre is a person with jewel-like eyes
Fruto da poeta negra do meio do lado de trás
Offspring of the black poetess in the hinterland
O tambor olho pra noite chegar na mudança
The drum looks at the night shift to arrive with its changes
Do saberes o risco da maré para ver
To learn, one has to take the risk of the tide
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: CARLINHOS BROWN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@starberrysweetee1495
Loooove this song, listening to this album is part of why I chose to learn Brazilian Portuguese
@paulokeefe2737
I remember hearing this in Ibiza in the early 1990s . Good tune.
@peterdevito6524
This recording was my introduction to Carlinhos Brown (he contributed this tune & "Magalenha") . Many of his recordings later, I'm a huge fan. I view him as roughly analogous to George Clinton here as mover, shaker, expander of particular local genres. As for Sergio Mendes, from the '60 to today, the man is always in style, a major popularizer of Brazilian
@Sylford
Beautiful way of putting it -
@weltonsales3077
Até o Carlinhos Brown fica sonoramente bom nas mãos do Sérgio Mendes. Cama vocal perfeita, de fundo fazendo bochiusa, sensacional ... que arranjo lindo.
@schaef0
When a was a kid, my dad used to do a misheard lyric of this song and sing “get the ball it’s under the sofa” to our dogs
@deanronson6331
Where I came from, "Message in a Bottle" was bowdlerized as "Mesechina, bato" (Serbian) = "Moonlight, buddy".
@fredwaxaklahun
axeachei !!!!
@Nr1from1978
I understand Axe means goodbye?
@beatrizmontenegro3603
nope, i believe axe is a word from yoruba (but i could be wrong about that) more specifically from the cadomble religion, and yoruba culture has influenced brazilian culture for a long time. good bye is "adeus" (farewell) or "tchau" (goodbye)