Sérgio Santos Mendes is the man who brought Bossa Nova, Samba and Musica Popular Brasileira to the world. But this is only the simple version of a story that started exactly 80 years ago.

On February 11th, 1941, a baby boy was born in Niterói, a small town in Rio de Janeiro province. Sérgio Mendes received an education as a classical pianist, while his interest in Jazz and Brazilian genres grew more and more over the years. In the early 1960s, when Bossa Nova was exploding all over his country, he headed the Sexteto Bossa Rio, a successful group. They even toured France and Italy before hitting Japan in 1964. Full story.

Imanuel Marcus (The Berlin Spectator) / February 2, 2021

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