Hermeto Pascoal (22 June 1936 – 13 September 2025) was a Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist. 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

thumb|left|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. As a child, Pascoal idolised baião accordionist Luiz Gonzaga, and he inspired both Pascoal and his brother, José Neto, to pursue music.

From an early age, Pascoal played the button accordion.

In 1964, he played in the Sambrasa Trio, with Airto Moreira and Humberto Clayber. 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. Pascoal would then go on to join the multi-faceted group Brazilian Octopus. 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.

International fame

thumb|300px|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. 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.

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.

Pascoal died from multiple organ failure in Rio de Janeiro, on 13 September 2025, at the age of 89.

Music

Pascoal was a multi-instrumentalist who would switch between instruments in performance. 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. 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.

  • Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo (Som da Gente, 1982)
  • Lagoa da Canoa, Município de Arapiraca (Som da Gente, 1984)
  • Brasil Universo (Som da Gente, 1985)
  • Só não toca quem não quer (Som da Gente, 1987)
  • Hermeto solo: por diferentes caminhos (Som da Gente, 1988)
  • Festa dos deuses (Polygram 1992)
  • Eu e eles (Radio MEC, 1999)
  • Chimarrão com rapadura (self released, 2006), with Aline Morena
  • No Mundo dos Sons (SESC-SP, 2017)
  • Natureza Universal (self-released, 2017)
  • E sua visão original do forró (2018, recorded 1999)
  • Pra Você, Ilza (Rocinante, 2024)

As contributor

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

Bibliography

  • Calendário do Som (Senac, 2000, , )

References

Sources

  • The official site
  • Interview, extensive information and discography