Sergio, Play Yo Piano

Credit to Will.I.Am. for the title of this post. Read on ... 

In the summer of 2006, I was walking through music/book store with my mother when I noticed a whole rack of CDs (this was 2006, after all) entitled Timeless, by a band I had not heard of: Black Eyed Peas. 

I stopped in my tracks and then tried to explain to my mother why this was so exciting. The face on the CD was that of a young Sergio Mendes. Sergio Mendes! 

As I later wrote in a 2013 post on my main blog, this is an artist who perhaps more than any other brought samba to audiences in the United States. He visited New York shortly before I was born, and shortly afterward exiled himself there, eventually moving to Los Angeles, where he died on September 5, 2024.

Back to that 2006 recording. The TimelessI project is one of many of his collaborations, in this case giving Black Eyed Peas a major role in many of the songs that he had made famous decades before. Among the most popular of these is "Mas Que Nada" and it is in this track that rapper Will.I.Am. encourages his friend's instrumental solo with those words. 

So popular had he become in the United States -- and particularly in New York City -- that a 1993 Seinfeld episode has the character Kramer indignantly ranting about his importance, and erroneously assuming he was well-known in Brazil.  

Notable tracks and stories I'll be sharing in class:

Fanfarra Cabua Le Le (1992)

Mas Que Nada 2006

Mas Que Nada 1966 video (see Wikipedia for much more about this song)

Sergio Mendes obituary on NPR (audio)

Sergio Mendes highlights on NPR (including obituary text)

Sergio Mendes, 83, Dies; Brought Brazilian Rhythms to the Pop Charts (NY Times)

Sergio Mendes - Magalenha (Video Original)

Mendes had a cameo in an otherwise very unremarkable movie Be Cool

Nostalgia Blinders

I noticed this statement recently on the page of a relatively recent BSU student who is involved in music.

It brought to mind a sentiment I see far too often in posts by people my own age (those who are Baby Boomers or close to it). That is the notion that no good music is made any more. Citing great musicians of their (our) own era, they will claim that nothing being performed today is as good. Or in fact, any good. 

Today more music is available than ever before, since the music of previous generations is still mostly available in some form, and new music is added daily. Entire new kinds of music are added as well, as are collaborations between generations.

There is no need for cynicism, but it helps to understand how it arises. Music is associated with many of our memories -- especially with good memories of time spent with friends and lovers, especially in our youth. 

There is nothing wrong with these good feelings, but we do ourselves -- and people of different ages around us -- a disservice if we allow ourselves to think that our particular generation has a monopoly on good music.

Student Participation 

In the comments below, I invite students (or others visiting this blog) to share examples of the kind of comment I am referencing above. A day after this post, I saw a typical one, with a bit of a clever twist. 

This appeared on the Facebook page of author Tom Bernstein and had been shared over 1,500 times in the first five days. I bravely clicked on the comments section, and found three interesting kinds of comments. Some objected to the premise, arguing that there is plenty of good music today that the writer was missing. Others expressed agreement -- "you got that right" and so on. And still others simply referenced some of that earlier music, such as that of CSNY. 

Current students are also invited to provide links to evidence for (or against) the claim I make above, regarding the psychological importance of the music we enjoy in our youth.