Hermeto Pascoal

Hermeto Pascoal (22 June 1936 – 13 September 2025) was a Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> Pascoal was best known in Brazilian music for his orchestration and improvisation, as well as for being a record producer and contributor to many Brazilian and international albums.

Life and career

Early life and career

Pascoal live in Buenos Aires 1978.

Pascoal was born on 22 June 1936 in Olho d'Água das Flores in Northeastern Brazil, in an area that lacked electricity at the time he was born. He learned the accordion from his father and practiced for hours indoors, as, being born with albinism, he was incapable of working in the countryside with the rest of his family.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="ALLMUSIC">Template:Cite web</ref> As a child, Pascoal idolised baião accordionist Luiz Gonzaga, and he inspired both Pascoal and his brother, José Neto, to pursue music.Template:Sfn

From an early age, Pascoal played the button accordion.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> At age seven, he started with the flute.Template:Sfn Pascoal was a self-taught child prodigy. When he was eleven, he started performing in musical groups with his brother and father. He and his family moved between Recife and Caruaru several times. Pascoal starting playing in some groups there that would start getting radio time.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" />Template:Sfn With his brother and Sivuca, who both also had albinism, he formed an accordion trio called O Mundo em Chamas for a short time.Template:Sfn

Pascoal taught himself piano, woodwind and percussion instruments.Template:Sfn At the end of the 1950s, Pascoal had moved to the south of the country and eked out a living as a musician in Rio and São Paulo.Template:Sfn In 1960, he picked up the saxophone and created the group Som Quatro.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":5">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":6">Template:Citation</ref>

In 1964, he played in the Sambrasa Trio, with Airto Moreira and Humberto Clayber.Template:Sfn They released only one album, Em Som Maior. Then he joined Trio Novo (Airto Moreira, Heraldo do Monte, Theo de Barros) and in 1967 the group, renamed Quarteto Novo, released an album that launched the careers of Pascoal and Moreira.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Pascoal would then go on to join the multi-faceted group Brazilian Octopus.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1969, at the invitation of Flora Purim and Airto Moreira , he traveled to the United States and recorded two LPs with them on Buddah Records, serving as composer, arranger, and instrumentalist: Pascoal also managed to record his debut album in 1970 for Cobblestone Records with the help of Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Joe Farrell and Googie Coppola.<ref>https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/hermeto/hermeto/</ref>

International fame

Hermeto Pascoal and group, 2009

Pascoal initially caught the international public's attention with an appearance on Miles Davis's 1971 album Live-Evil, which featured him on three pieces, which he also composed.<ref name="ALLMUSIC" /> Davis allegedly called Pascoal "the most impressive musician in the world".<ref name="jazztimes">Template:Cite web</ref> Later collaborations involved fellow Brazilian musicians Airto Moreira and Flora Purim. From the late 1970s onward, he has mostly led his own groups, playing at many prestigious venues, such as the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1979. Other members of the group have included bassist Itibere Zwarg, pianist Jovino Santos-Neto and percussionists Nene, Pernambuco, and Zabelê.<ref name=":0" />

Between 1996 and 1997, Pascoal worked on a book project called Calendário do Som, which contains a song for every day of the year, including 29 February, so that everyone would have a song for their birthday.<ref name="ALLMUSIC" />

He later returned to the Jabour neighborhood in Bangu, Rio de Janeiro, where he spent much of his time composing, rehearsing and hosting musicians from all over the world.<ref name="www1.folha.uol.com.br" />

In 2019, his album Hermeto Pascoal e Sua Visão Original do Forró won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Portuguese Language Roots Album.<ref name="billboardLG19">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Personal life and death

Pascoal was married to Ilza da Silva, to whom he dedicated many compositions, from 1954 until her death in 2000. They had six children, Jorge, Fábio, Flávia, Fátima, Fabiula, and Flávio, and many grandchildren. Hermeto was later married to Aline Morena from 2003 until 2016, while living in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="www1.folha.uol.com.br">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Pascoal died from multiple organ failure in Rio de Janeiro, on 13 September 2025, at the age of 89.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Music

Pascoal was a multi-instrumentalist who would switch between instruments in performance.Template:Sfn Known as o Bruxo (the Sorcerer), he often made music with unconventional objects such as teapots, children's toys, and animals, as well as keyboards, button accordions, melodica, saxophones, guitars, flutes, voices, various brass and folkloric instruments.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ALLMUSIC" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He used nature as a basis for his compositions, as in his Música da Lagoa, in which the musicians burble water and play glass bottles and flutes while immersed in a lagoon: a Brazilian television broadcast from 1999 showed him soloing at one point by singing into a cup with his mouth partially submerged in water. Folk music from rural Brazil is another important influence in his work.<ref name="ALLMUSIC" />

Discography

• Conjunto Som 4 (Continental, 1964), with Conjunto Som 4<ref name=":1" />
• Em Som Maior (Som Maior, 1966), with Sambrasa Trio<ref name=":1" />
• Quarteto Novo (EMI, 1967), with Quarteto NovoTemplate:Sfn
• Brazilian Octopus (Som Livre/Fermata, 1970), with Brazilian Octopus<ref name=":1" />
• Hermeto Pascoal (Buddah, 1970, Muse, 1988)<ref name=":1" />Template:Sfn
• A música livre de Hermeto Pascoal (Polygram, 1973)Template:Sfn
• Slaves Mass (Warner, 1977)Template:Sfn
• Zabumbê-bum-á (Warner Brazil, 1979)Template:Sfn
• Ao vivo Montreux (Warner Brazil, 1979)Template:Sfn
• Nova história da Música Popular Brasileira (compilation) (1979)
• Cérebro magnético (Warner Brazil, 1980)Template:Sfn
• Planetário da Gávea (1981)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo (Som da Gente, 1982)Template:Sfn
• Lagoa da Canoa, Município de Arapiraca (Som da Gente, 1984)Template:Sfn
• Brasil Universo (Som da Gente, 1985)Template:Sfn
• Só não toca quem não quer (Som da Gente, 1987)Template:Sfn
• Hermeto solo: por diferentes caminhos (Som da Gente, 1988)<ref name=":1" />
• A Musica Livre de Hermeto PaschoalTemplate:Sic (Verve, 1990)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Festa dos deuses (Polygram 1992)<ref name=":1" />
• Instrumental no CCBB (1993), with Renato Borghetti<ref name=":1" />
• Brasil Musical (Tom Brasil Produções Musicais, 1993), with Pau Brasil<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Eu e eles (Radio MEC, 1999)<ref name=":1" />
• Mundo verde esperança (Radio MEC, 2002)<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Chimarrão com rapadura (self released, 2006), with Aline Morena<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />
• Bodas de Latão (Tratore, 2010), with Aline Morena<ref name=":1" />
• Hermeto Pascoal: The Monash Sessions (Jazzhead, 2013), with the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• No Mundo dos Sons (SESC-SP, 2017)<ref name=":2" />
• Viajando com o som (Far Out, 2017, recorded in 1976)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Natureza Universal (self-released, 2017)<ref name=":2" />
• Made of Music (Budweiser 2018)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• E sua visão original do forró (2018, recorded 1999)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Pra Você, Ilza (Rocinante, 2024)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

As contributor

• Ritmos Alucinantes (1956), by Clovis Pereira<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Batucando no Morro (Tiger, 1958–1960), by Pernambuco do Pandeiro e seu regional<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Caminho (RCA, 1965), by Walter SantosTemplate:Sfn
• Tide (A&M, 1970), with Tom JobimTemplate:Sfn
• Natural Feelings (Buddha, 1970), by Airto MoreiraTemplate:Sfn
• Electric Byrd (Blue Note 1970), by Donald Byrd<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Sergio Mendes Presents Lobo (A&M, 1970), by Edu Lobo<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• It Could Only Happen with You (Blue Note 1970), by Duke Pearson<ref name=":3" />
• Live-Evil (Columbia, 1971), by Miles DavisTemplate:Sfn
• Cantiga de Longe (Elenco, 1970), by Edu LoboTemplate:Sfn
• Seeds on the Ground (Buddha, 1971), by Airto MoreiraTemplate:Sfn
• Di Melo, by Di Melo (Odeon, 1975)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Imyra, Tayra, Ipy (Odeon, 1976), by Taiguara<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
• Open Your Eyes You Can Fly (Milestone, 1976), by Flora Purim<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>
• Goldenwings (Milestone, 1976), by Opa<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Stone Alliance (PM, 1977), by Márcio Montarroyos<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Orós (CBS/Columbia, 1977), by Raimundo Fagner<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Robertinho no passo (CBS, 1978), by Robertinho de Recife<ref name=":1" />
• Sivuca (Copacabana, 1979), by Sivuca<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>
• Live in Montreux (Elektra, 1982), by Elis Regina<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Cordas vivas (Som Da Gente, 1983) by Heraldo do Monte<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>
• Ponto do músicos (Maracatu, 1984) by Nenê<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>
• Balãozinho (Continental, 1986), by Eduardo Gudin<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Cordas mágicas (Som da Gente, 1986), by Heraldo do Monte<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Pindorama (Copacabana, 1979), by Pau Brasil<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Dharana (Natale Produções Artísticas, 1987), by Dharana<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Oferenda (self-released, 1996), by Aleuda<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Marítimo (Sony, 1998) by Adriana Calcanhotto (on track "Canção por Acaso")<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Nação Nordestina (BMG, 2000), by Zé Ramalho (on track "Violando com Hermeto")<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Serenata: The Music of Hermeto Pascoal (Adventure Music, 2003), by Mike Marshall and Jovino Santos Neto<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Roda Carioca (Adventure Music, 2006), by Jovino Santos Neto<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Beams (self-released, 2023), by Dan Costa (composer)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bibliography

• Calendário do Som (Senac, 2000, Template:ISBN, Template:OCLC)

Sources

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite book

External links

• The official site
• Interview, extensive information and discography
• Template:Discogs artist
• Template:IMDb name