Last’s night’s DJ John Show in the HF living room traced the history of Mas Que Nada, the ‘60s pop hit by Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66. Its roots in my pantheon of beloved music stem from its moment – KFI, the mid-1960s pop radio that ran as the background soundtrack of my childhood home. There was a bunch of Brazilian pop making the crossover to our hi-fi back then – Antonio Carlos Jobim’s Wave, Astrud Gilberto’s breathy Girl from Ipanema, though I’m pretty sure it was Herb Alpert’s Girl that I first heard. Alpert’s South of the Border was the handful of LP’s the Fleck family owned.
Mas Que Nada’s narrative arc traces back to the song “Nanã Imborô” by José Prates, recorded in the 1950s, which carries a whistled melodic line that evolved into the Mas Qe Nada, which the Brazilian pop star Jorge Ben wrote and recorded in 1963. But it was Mendes whose version slipped onto the Fleck family hi-fi thanks to the magic of pop music radio.
The consumer surplus of streaming music
In the place of the old Fleck family hi-fi console, a choice of a handful of records or whatever was on the radio, last night I could play DJ, reaching onto the Internet to sort out the story and then stringing together a five-song set of the song’s history, from José Prates through Jorge Ben to three Sergio Mendes versions – the 1960s, the ‘80s, and the version he did in 2006 with the Black-Eyed Peas.
The consumer surplus associated with music streaming here is stunning. In inflation-adjusted terms, the cost of that mid-60s Herb Alpert LP is equivalent to about two months’ worth of our family streaming music subscription. But the attempt at cost equivalence here defies the simple inflation adjustment. It’s not just that I get a lot more music. I get what amounts to any music I want, an endless trove of history and culture, curated however I choose. I loved being a radio DJ in my youth because of the big library at my disposal, but this so so much more.
I think I’ll play the whole Jorge Ben album next.
Thanks for this fun post. I was introduced to Jorge Ben’s music by a high school friend whose family had lived in Brazil for a time. Quite a lot of his music might sound familiar to anyone who enjoyed Sergio Mendes.
Something to note here: The inflation-adjusted drop in the cost of listening to music, although good for the consumer, has been accompanied by a decline in artist compensation. Artists used to be able to count on income from airplay royalties, but these days, artists need to tour to make a living because streaming pays so little.
A friend of mind is a jazz guitar player. I joined him at a local gig and requested The Girl From Ipanema. I had that album as a kid. Thanks for reminding. Great dance music. Happy times.
The girl on the album and the kitchen housewife have some things in common. Up for a party.