13 Facts About Hermeto Pascoal

Hermeto Pascoal was born on June 22,1936 and is a Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist.

Hermeto Pascoal was born in Lagoa da Canoa, Alagoas, Brazil.

Hermeto Pascoal comes from Northeastern Brazil, in an area that lacked electricity at the time he was born.

Hermeto Pascoal 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.

From an early age, Hermeto Pascoal was playing sanfona, meaning button accordion.

Hermeto Pascoal starting playing in some groups there that would start getting radio time, and by 1960, he picked up the saxophone and created the group Som Quatro.

Hermeto Pascoal's career began in 1964 with appearances on several Brazilian recordings alongside relatively unknown groups.

Hermeto 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 composed.

Hermeto Pascoal uses nature as a basis for his compositions, as in his Musica da Lagoa, in which the musicians burble water and play 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.

Between 1996 and 1997, Hermeto Pascoal worked on a book project called Calendario do Som, which contains a song for every day of the year, including February 29, so that everyone would have a song for their birthday.

Hermeto Pascoal was married to Ilza da Silva, to whom he dedicated many compositions, from 1954 until her death in 2000.

Hermeto Pascoal was later married to Aline Morena from 2003 until 2016, while living in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil.

Hermeto Pascoal has since returned to the Jabour neighborhood in Bangu, Rio de Janeiro, where he spends much of his time composing, rehearsing and hosting musicians from all over the world.