This song is an emblematic brazilian song, and brought world wide success to its creator, Sérgio Mendes. The song was recorded in 1966 as the name of the band suggest it. It is a cover of a 1963 song of the same name by Jorge Ben Jor, who was for a time a guitarist in Sergio Mendes band when touring in the US. The beginning anchor comes from an older song, Nanã Imborô by José Prates in 1958.
Despite the reputation of the song, the lyrics are a little bit cryptic.^[[1] https://genius.com/Sergio-mendes-and-brasil-66-mas-que-nada-lyrics]
José Prates - Nanã Imborô [04:35 | https://youtu.be/9-l_8BurV_4]
Sérgio Mendes, the pianist who gifted the world with the most famous version of the Brazilian classic “Mas Que Nada,” died on Thursday. Born in 1941, Mendes was a 20-year-old musician when he first arrived in the U.S. to perform at a historic Carnegie Hall concert that brought many bossa nova legends to New York in 1962. Two years after the show, Mendes moved to Los Angeles and never left the U.S. He also never abandoned Brazilian music, becoming one of the most significant ambassadors of bossa nova and samba around the world.^[[2] https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/sergio-mendes-mas-que-nada-legacy-1235097970/]