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)
Senhoras Do Amazonas
Sergio Mendes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Vi teu tropical sem fim
Quadrou de ser um mar
Longe Anhangá
Tantas cunhãs e eu curumim
O uirapuru
(Oh, lua azul)
Rio, vim saber de ti, meu mar
Negro maracá jari
Pará, Paris jardim, muiraquitãs
Tantas manhãs, nós no capim
Jurupari
(Oh, Deus daqui)
Jjurou assim
Porque fugir se enfim me queres?
Só me feriu como me feres
A mais civilizada das mulheres
Senhoras do Amazonas que sois
Donas dos homens e das setas
Por que já não amais vossos poetas?
In "Senhoras Do Amazonas," Sergio Mendes begins by conveying his impressions of Rio, revealing it as a place of endless beauty and tropical charm. At the beginning of the song, he describes how he came to know the city and mentions the Anhangá, a mountain located in the region. Sergio Mendes sings about the many cunhãs, or young women, and he, representing a curumim, or an indigenous child, found himself in awe of the Uirapuru, a small brown bird of the Brazilian rainforests. As the moon shone a blue color, and the Uirapuru serenaded him, he was enthralling the splendid music of nature.
Rio has always been famous for its vibrant nightlife, street parties, and samba, and the mention of the Negro Maracá jari highlights its cultural significance. Sergio mentions different exotic places in the song, including Pará, Paris Jardim, and various other locations known for their natural beauty. In the next section of the song, Sergio emphasizes the importance of the women of the Amazon, who represent civilization and sophistication. Despite this, their relationship with poets is troubled, and their alliance with men is significant. He is questioning the women's behavior and trying to understand why they neglect their poets who passionately express their love and devotion to them.
Interesting facts:
Line by Line Meaning
Rio, vim saber de ti e vi
I came to see you, Rio, and I saw your endless tropical beauty
Vi teu tropical sem fim
I saw your endless tropical beauty
Quadrou de ser um mar
It was like being out at sea
Longe Anhangá
Far from Anhangá
Tantas cunhãs e eu curumim
So many women and me, a little boy
O uirapuru
The uirapuru bird
(Oh, lua azul)
Oh, blue moon
Cantou pra mim
Sang to me
Rio, vim saber de ti, meu mar
I came to see you, Rio, my sea
Negro maracá jari
Black maraca jari
Pará, Paris jardim, muiraquitãs
Pará, Paris garden, muiraquitãs
Tantas manhãs, nós no capim
So many mornings, us in the grass
Jurupari
Jurupari (a god of the Amazonian tribes)
(Oh, Deus daqui)
Oh, God from here
Jjurou assim
Swore it so
Porque fugir se enfim me queres?
Why run away if you really want me?
Só me feriu como me feres
You hurt me like I hurt you
A mais civilizada das mulheres
The most civilized of women
Senhoras do Amazonas que sois
Ladies of the Amazon that you are
Donas dos homens e das setas
Mistresses of men and arrows
Por que já não amais vossos poetas?
Why do you no longer love your poets?
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
MistahKrabs55
The most underrated track on the album, sounds JUST like Casiopea
MistahKrabs55
@Stefano Aquino lol, I'm saying it sounds like that band
Stefano Aquino
Wait..casiopea plays samba too?
Hugo Maia
Essa música é do baralho!
giorgia foti
So good
Daniel N
❤️