Remembering Hermeto Pascoal: The Sorcerer's Spell

Hermeto Pascoal, the one-of-a-kind Brazilian multi-instrumentalist and composer, has gone to the great gig in the sky. Known affectionately as Bruxo (Sorcerer), Pascoal passed away on September 13, 2025. He was 89.

Few musicians have traversed as many styles of Brazilian music as Pascoal. His first commercial recording, in 1956, was with Clóvis Pereira—the renowned composer of folkloric, choral and orchestral works; Pascoal plays sanfona (button accordion) on two tracks. Over the next 65 years, Pascoal contributed to albums by Pernambuco do Pandeiro, Edu Lobo, De Melo, Taigura, Sivuca, Elis Regina, Flora Purim and Airto Moreira, leaving his mark on a broad swathe of música popular brasileira (MPB), folk music and jazz.

In the '70s, he recorded with Donald Byrd and appeared on Miles Davis' Live-Evil (Columbia, 1971). Davis was clearly a fan, interpreting three of Pascoal's compositions on the studio cuts—"Little Church," "Nem Um Talvez" and "Selim."

Pascoal was born in Lagoa da Canoa on June 22, 1936—the town in northeastern Brazil that would later lend its name to his 1984 album. His father taught him the button accordion at an early age. He was also drawn to the flute. Before he hit his teens he was playing in the family group with his father and brother. His family moved to Recife in 1950, where Pascoal would later meet his wife, Ilza.

He first made his name in the 1960s in Conjunto Som 4, Trio Novo, Sambrasa Trio, Quarteto Novo and the eclectic Brazilian Octopus—all short-lived adventures that fused Brazilian music with jazz. 1970 saw the release of his eponymous solo debut, the first of two dozen albums as leader over the next fifty-plus years.

To call Pascoal a multi-instrumentalist barely scratches the surface. Flute, piano and accordion may have been his primary instruments, but Pascoal would coax music from teapots, cutlery, toys, a flour grinder and just about anything else that stirred his imagination. On the album Lagoa da Canoa Municipio de Arapiraca (Som Da Gente, 1984) the fevered rhythms of Brazilian football commentary inspired two compositions. Even bird song and the sound of dripping stalactites in caves became music that he could notate.

The sounds of nature were a constant inspiration. In 1985 Pascoal was invited to perform the soundtrack to Ricardo Lua's film Sinfonia do Alto Ribeira (Bagre Cego) , a documentary whose aim was to highlight the ecological threats facing the Parque Estadual do Alto da Ribeira. Pascoal composed and performed the entire soundtrack in the national park's rain forest. There is a tremendous clip on YouTube (see below) of Pascoal and group, waist deep in a river, using the water as percussion and tuned bottles as melody.

An inveterate percussion experimenter, Pascoal brought a host of instruments to the Parque Estadual do Alto da Ribeira. Among some of the more unusual ones were a couple of sewing machines, a ram's horn, kitchen utensils and various car parts. He was, to borrow from the title of his 2018 album, made of music.

And what music it was! From his otherworldly experiments with nature sounds, to the joyous, full-throttle jazz-fusion of his big band recordings, to the delicate lyricism of his flute and piano work—you can drop the needle anywhere in Pascoal's discography and find magic.

Pascoal's final studio recording, Pra você, Ilza (Rocinante Records, 2024) was a tribute to Ilza, his wife of forty-six years who died in 2000. In the album's liner notes Pascoal wrote of his wife: "Our love, our spirit, our soul remains together. Everything keeps unfolding."

Hermeto Pascoal's music remains, unfolding in all its glorious colors, myriad inflections and universal rhythms. In a 2022 interview with Cormac Larkin for the Irish Times, the week before a concert in Cork, Ireland, Pascoal summed up the musical philosophy that imbued his remarkable career: "Music is everywhere. Music is like the air we breathe... "

Hermeto Pascoal: June 26, 1936—September 13, 2025