RIO DE JANEIRO, 1999

UNIVERSIDADE DO RIO DE JANEIRO

CENTRO DE LETRAS E ARTES

MESTRADO EM MSICA BRASILEIRA

THE EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC OF HERMETO PASCOAL & GROUP

(1981 1993): CONCEPTION AND LANGUAGE

by

LUIZ COSTA-LIMA NETO

RIO DE JANEIRO, 1999

THE EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC OF HERMETO PASCOAL & GROUP

(1981 1993): CONCEPTION AND LANGUAGE

by

LUIZ COSTA-LIMA NETO

Thesis submitted to the Programa de Mestrado em Msica Brasileira (Program

for Masters Degree in Brazilian Music) of the Centro de Letras e Artes (Center of Arts

and Literature) of UNI-RIO, as a partial requirement for obtaining a Masters degree,

under the orientation of Prof. Dr. Martha Tupinamb de Ulha.

ABSTRACT

In this study, we looked for the genesis and the conception of the experimental

elements in the musical language of Hermeto Pascoal's composer and instrumentalist.

We take as our object of analysis a certain repertoire recorded between 1981 e 1993 by

the composer and the group that accompanied him in this period: Itiber Zwarg, Jovino

Santos, Antnio Santana, Carlos Malta and Mrcio Bahia. For clarifying how certain

harmonic, melodic, rythmical and timbre elements were constituted, at the level of

language, we searched, through time, the roots of Pascoal's musical conception, since

his childhood. We went on his musical development up to the point we got in touch

again with the period we had stressed, at beginning. In our research, it is of special

relevance, the relationship between sound and image and certain non-conventional

sound patterns, musically merged by Pascoal since a child, such as the sounds of

percussed metals, sounds that belonged to nature, to animal and human voices.

By investigating the borders of interpretation, improvising and composition and

in order to verify Pascoal's and group work dynamics, we still rebuilt the process of

creation and research in each analysed composition, up to its recording at studios.

Costa-Lima Neto, Luiz.

The Experimental Music of Hermeto Pascoal & Group (1981 1993): conception and language / Luiz Costa-Lima Neto. Rio de Janeiro, 1999. vii, 214p.

Thesis Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Martha Tupinamb de Ulha.

Dissertation (Master) Universidade do Rio de Janeiro. Mestrado em Msica Brasileira.

Bibliography: p. 209-212.

Discography: p.212-214.

1. Msica instrumental. 2. Msica Popular. 3. Etnomusicologia. 4. Hermeto Pascoal.

I. Ulha, Martha Tupinamb de. II. Universidade do Rio de Janeiro (1979 - ).

Programa de Ps-Graduao em Msica. III. Ttulo

Translation: Laura Coimbra and Prof. Dr. Tom Moore

Music revisor: Prof. Dr. Tom Moore

I

DEDICATION

To Zlia, Henrique, Luiz, Rebeca and Daniel, my

family, and to Cristiane, for their support, love and

patience.

To all of Hermeto Pascoals fans, and especially to

those that on any night between 1982 and 1992

were at the Parque Lage, Circo Voador or Teatro

Rival, and thrilled to the shows presented by

Hermeto, Itiber, Jovino, Pernambuco, Carlos

Malta and Mrcio Bahia.

II

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank:

The Conselho Nacional de Desenvovimento Cientfico e Tecnolgico (The

National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) CNPq for my

scholarship during the period from 1996 to 1998.

Professors Jos Maria Neves, Elizbeth Travassos Lins, Carol Gubernikoff,

Ricardo Tacuchian and Antnio Guerreiro, my classmates and staff at UNI-RIO, and

Professor Rodolfo Caesar of the Escola de Msica of the U.F.R.J., for their help and for

our enriching personal and academic relationship.

Professor Dr. Elizabeth Travassos Lins and Professor Dr. Maurcio Alves

Loureiro, who were brilliant members of the examining board when I defended my

thesis, presenting several important contributions to my work.

Mauro Wermelinger, for kindly allowing the use of his archives of news reports

about Hermeto Pascoal.

Hermeto Pascoal himself and musicians Itiber Zwarg, Jovino Santos Neto,

Antnio Luis Santana, Carlos Daltro Malta and Mrcio Villa Bahia, for the interviews

they gave me and for the kind collaboration in the collection and correction of the

manuscripts of the musical parts. Without their help, this work would not have been

possible.

My special thanks to pianist and composer Jovino Santos Neto for his solicitude,

always being available for interviews and countless consultations for over two years,

and for his generosity in putting at my unrestricted disposal his personal archive of

scores composed by Hermeto.

The kindness of Laura Coimbra and Tom Moore for carefully translating my

work into English.

My final thanks go to my thesis supervisor, Professor Martha Tupinamb de

Ulha, for her constant advice and countless corrections and suggestions, and for

embarking with me on a seductive but unpredictable journey.

III

Summary

PREFACE ............................................................................................................................................. VII

1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 1

1.1. THE CONCEPTION AND LANGUAGE OF HERMETO PASCOAL: FIRST CONSIDERATIONS....................................... 4

1.2. THE AMAZING NATIVE VERSION .................................................................................................... 6

2. BIBLIOGRAPHIC DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................ 15

2.1. FROM AN ERUDITE VIEW POINT ................................................................................................... 15

2.2. FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF JAZZ .................................................................................................... 20

2.3. CONCLUSION REGARDING THE PAPERS DISCUSSED ABOVE .................................................................. 26

2.3.1. JAZZ? ................................................................................................................... 27

2.3.2 CONCRETE MUSIC? .................................................................................................. 28

2.4. SOUND AND MUSIC ................................................................................................................... 32

2.5. SYNESTHESIA ........................................................................................................................... 34

3. THE CREATIVE PROCESS OF HERMETO PASCOAL & GROUP .......................................................... 41

3.1. FROM LAGOA DA CANOA TO THE U.S.A., FROM THE U.S.A. TO THE WORLD: A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF

HERMETO PASCOAL IN SEARCH OF HIS MUSICAL CONCEPTION...................................................................... 41

3.2. BIOGRAPHICAL DATA ON THE MEMBERS OF THE GROUP .................................................................. 64

3.2.1. ITIBER LUIZ ZWARG ................................................................................................ 64

3.2.2. JOVINO SANTOS NETO .............................................................................................. 65

3.2.3. CARLOS ALBERTO DALTRO MALTA ............................................................................... 66

3.2.4. MRCIO VILLA BAHIA ............................................................................................... 67

3.3. HERMETO E GRUPO FROM 1981 TO 1993 .................................................................................... 69

3.3.1. WORKING TOGETHER, METHODOLOGY OF REHEARSING AND APPRENTICESHIP ........................... 69

3.3.2. THE PROCESS OF REHEARSING AND CREATION OF MUSIC: IMPROVISED COMPOSITION AND WRITTEN

IMPROVISATION? .................................................................................................................. 73

3.3.3. PARTICIPATION OF MUSICIANS IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS ................................................... 77

3.3.4. FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT HERMETOS SCHOOL, AND THE ROLE OF THE GROUP IN CONSOLIDATING

ITS LANGUAGE ...................................................................................................................... 80

3.3.5. END OF A CYCLE/BEGINNING OF ANOTHER ....................................................................... 83

IV

4. REFLECTIONS ON ACOUSTICS AND PSYCHO-ACOUSTICS .................................................................. 84

4.1. A CONSTANT NOISE .............................................................................................................. 84

4.2. SPECTRAL TYPOLOGY ................................................................................................................ 89

4.2.1. HARMONIC SPECTRUMS ............................................................................................ 91

4.2.2. INHA R MO NIC SPE CTR A ........................................................................................... 92

4.3. SPECTRAL MORPHOLOGY .......................................................................................................... 97

4.4. THE UNITARY SOUND ............................................................................................................... 98

4.5. HERMETOS EXTENDED PERCEPTIO N ........................................................................................ 100

5. SELECTED ANALYSES ............................................................................................................... 110

5.1. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE REPERTOIRE ......................................................................................... 110

5.2. GRAPHIC AND CONVENTIONAL SCORES ..................................................................................... 112

5.3. MUSICAL ANALYSES ............................................................................................................... 116

5.3.1. SRIE DE ARCO (HOOP SERIES), LP HERMETO PASCOAL & GRUPO (SOM DA GENTE, 1982) .......... 116

5.3.2. BRIGUINHA DE MSICOS MALUCOS NO CORETO (CRAZY MUSICIANS QUARRELING ON THE BANDSTAND),

LP HERMETO PASCOAL & GRUPO, (SOM DA GENTE, 1982)....................................................................... 126

5.3.3. MAGIMANI SAGEI, LP HERMETO PASCOAL & GRUPO (SOM DA GENTE, 1982) ......................................... 131

5.3.4. CORES (COLORS), LP HERMETO PASCOAL & GRUPO (SOM DA GENTE, 1982) ......................................... 139

5.3.5. DE BANDEJA E TUDO (WITH TRAY AND ALL), LP HERMETO PASCOAL & GRUPO (SOM DA GENTE, 1982) .......... 155

5.3.6. PAPAGAIO ALEGRE (MERRY PARROT), LP LAGOA DA CANOA, MUNICPIO DE ARAPIRACA (SOM DA GENTE, 1984) .....

........................................................................................................................................... 163

5.3.7. ARAPU, LP BRASIL UNIVERSO (SOM DA GENTE, 1986)...................................................................... 173

5.3.8. AULA DE NATAO (SWIMMING LESSON), CD FESTA DOS DEUSES (POLYGRAM, 1992) ................................ 185

6. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................ 191

6.1. SUMMARY OF THE MUSICAL ANALYSES ........................................................................................... 191

6.2. THE TRAJECTORY OF HERMETO PASCOAL & GROUP: FINAL CONSIDERATIONS .......................................... 195

6.3. A FINAL INTERVIEW WITH HERMETO PASCOAL ................................................................................. 201

7. SOURCES ................................................................................................................................... 209

7.1. BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................ 209

7.1.1. MAGAZINES AND NEWSPAPERS WITHOUT ENTRY BY AUTHOR OR DATE.......................................................... 211

V

7.2. INTERVIEWS ............................................................................................................................ 212

7.3. DISCOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................... 212

7.3.1. HERMETO PASCOALS SOLO ALBUMS ................................................................................................ 212

7.3.2. ALBUMS AS PERFORMER AND ARRANGER ........................................................................................... 213

7.3.3. SOLO ALBUMS OF THE MEMBERS OF THE GROUP .................................................................................. 214

7.3.4. OTHER ALBUMS ........................................................................................................................ 214

INDEX OF EXAMPLES

Example 1: "Ilha das gaivotas" (harmony for the solo) ........................................................................... 23

Example 2: Ilha das gaivotas (second bar) .......................................................................................... 23

Example 3: The harmonic series ............................................................................................................ 91

Example 4: Spectrum of the Winchester Cathedral tenor bell ................................................................ 95

Example 5: "Ferragens" (1st bar)......................................................................................................... 101

Example 6: Ferragens (1st bar, first measure) ................................................................................... 105

Example 7: Ferragens (1st bar, fifth measure) ................................................................................... 106

Example 8: 2nd Bar .............................................................................................................................. 106

Example 9: (bar 2, 1st

measure) ........................................................................................................... 107

Example 10: (bar 2, 2nd measure) ........................................................................................................ 107

Example 11: 1st bar, passage of a(0.00- 0.05) ............................................................................... 119

Example 12: 2nd bar, continuation of a ( 0.6 - 0. 11)..................................................................... 120

Example 13: passage of b(0. 16- 0.19) .......................................................................................... 121

Example 15: 8th bar, continuation of c (0.37- 0.42) ...................................................................... 121

Example 14: passage from c ( 0.32- 0.37) ..................................................................................... 121

Example 16: 10th and 11th bars, passage from d (0.47- 0.56) ....................................................... 122

Example 17: 4th bar (0.16- 0.19) .................................................................................................... 122

Example 18: 6th bar (0.27- 0.32) .................................................................................................... 123

Example 19: 1st and 2nd bars (0.00 0.10) .................................................................................... 124

Example 20: A, 34th bar (2.26- 2.28) ............................................................................................. 125

Example 21: (0.0 - 1.01) ................................................................................................................. 129

Example 22: rhythmic-melodic phrases ............................................................................................... 135

Example 23: A. (1.44- 2.24 and 2.54- 3.12) .............................................................................. 137

Example 24: (4.03- 4.31) ................................................................................................................ 138

VI

Example 25: (0.11- 2.08) ................................................................................................................ 144

Example 26: Bar 5 ............................................................................................................................... 146

Example 27: Bar 7 ............................................................................................................................... 146

Example 28: b. 11 and 12 of the theme (1.22- 1.44) ....................................................................... 148

Example 29: (2.08 - 2.17) ............................................................................................................... 149

Example 30: (2.18 - 2.25) ............................................................................................................... 150

Example 31: Rhythm of piano 1 in B .................................................................................................. 151

Example 32: (3.32- 4.07) ................................................................................................................ 151

Example 33: (4.29- 4.36) ................................................................................................................ 152

Example 34: Chord formed by the partials of the iron plate ................................................................. 152

Example 35: Piano before the Climax .................................................................................................. 152

Example 36: Climax (4'57'' - 5'.10'') ..................................................................................................... 154

Example 37: Theme, b.1 to 8 (1.15- 1.45 and 2.02 - 2.32) .......................................................... 159

Example 38: (5.14 - 5.43) ............................................................................................................... 162

Example 39: (0'.10" - 0'.26") ............................................................................................................... 166

Example 40: (0.26- 0.42) ................................................................................................................ 167

Example 41: Superlocrian scale in b .................................................................................................. 168

Example 42: (0.43- 0. 58) ............................................................................................................... 169

Example 43: Symmetrical scale ........................................................................................................... 170

Example 44: (0.59 - 1.15) Theme 'c2'.............................................................................................. 171

Example 45: (0.59 - 1.07) ............................................................................................................... 172

Example 46: bs. 1 to 17 (0.00 - 0.23) ............................................................................................. 176

Example 48: b. 1 - 16 .......................................................................................................................... 178

Example 47: b.1 .................................................................................................................................. 178

Example 49: b. 23 and 24 (0.35- 0.38) ............................................................................................ 179

Example 50: b. 57 to 60 (1.28 - 1.34) .............................................................................................. 180

Example 51: B, b. 99 to 102 (2.31 - 2.43) ........................................................................................ 181

Example 52: B, b. 108 and 109 (3.00 ............................................................................................ 182

Example 53: A, b. 84 to 97 (6.17 - 6.35) ........................................................................................ 183

Example 54: Final chord ...................................................................................................................... 184

VII

PREFACE

From approximately 1984 to 1992, we were present at practically all the

shows and appearances of Hermeto Pascoal & Group in Rio de Janeiro. The

performances were extraordinary and unforgettable. Unique. Leading a group of

exceptional musicians was a creative and charismatic multi-instrumental virtuoso, as

well as a very good-humored entertainer: Hermeto Pascoal.

Entertainment was guaranteed. Invariably, the shows went way beyond

conventional time limits, lasting for three, four or more hours. Its very hard to describe

exactly what went on there, but one thing was clear: it was a fantastic band, led by one

of the greatest musicians of our time.

The use of superlatives is not an advisable rhetorical effect in a thesis. We shall

consider this short preface as an exception that Hermeto Pascoal & Group deserve.

Hermetos qualities are not restricted to the fact that he is a magnificently skilled

performer, technically speaking, and unbeatable improviser. Hermeto is also a unique

composer. His repertoire offers a highly varied range of stylistic possibilities, from the

xote and baio to an experimentalism only to be found in contemporary erudite music.

Hermeto was as fascinating as he was intriguing.

How, we asked ourselves then, had Hermeto turned into that incredible

phenomenon, leading such a good band? And what kind of music was that, how was it

made and conceived?

These questions, formulated years ago in a state of complete musical ecstasy, are

due to the perplexity that the music of Hermeto Pascoal & Group aroused in us.

This thesis is a result of that perplexity. In it, we try to understand Hermeto

Pascoals conception and language, especially in their experimental aspects.

1

1. INTRODUCTION

Hermeto Pascoal, with a 50-year-long career, 13 solo albums to his credit,

and 31 other ones where he functions as producer, performer, arranger and

composer1, is today an important name on both the national and the world scene.

This study focuses on some aspects of his conception and language, and,

towards that end, we shall analyze a certain repertoire composed and recorded by

Hermeto in the period between 1981 and 1993. In this period, a quintet of

musicians accompanied and was led by Hermeto, combining an excellent standard

of individual performance with the unique esthetic conception of the composer

from Alagoas.

We use the words language and conception in their usual meaning.

Language is the general term that comprises the systems of signs, i.e., the non-

natural elements (the sounds that integrate a musical scale do not naturally belong to

it; those that form a word have no natural meaning) through which man expresses

himself and communicates. Conception is the act of originating, creating. Here, we

deal with analyzing the conception of a musical language.

Therefore, we are motivated by two questions. The first, of a more general

nature, is with respect to Hermetos experimental conception: how it was elaborated,

its origins and its most important features. To answer that, we go back to the

composers childhood, and then follow him through his professional trajectory. The

second question refers to how that conception was transformed into musical

language by Hermeto himself and by the quintet that accompanied him in the

aforementioned period. We try to answer this second question by reconstituting the

1 Approximate data based on the discography organized in 1999 by Mauro Wermelinger, a friend of

Hermeto and Group. Because the works of certain Brazilian musicians are not satisfactorily catalogued, a

complete discography of Hermetos works demands a research that goes beyond this thesis, and is

certainly much more extensive than the one we present.

2

process of creation and rehearsal of the compositions we have chosen, up to the

moment when they were recorded in a studio.

The repertoire selected for analysis is a sampling of the work developed by

Hermeto Pascoal & Group, and the compositions we chose are especially appropriate

for the objective of the present study, for, to us, they seemed to be examples that were

rich in diverse experimental aspects.

The definition of experimental music that we used is based on the one

presented by Paul Griffiths in his book Enciclopdia da Msica do Sec.XX:2

(...) one uses the word experimental for music that significantly strays from the

expectations of style, form or type sanctioned by tradition except the experimental

tradition. Some composers, especially at the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s,

when experimental music was at its height, drew a useful distinction between the vanguard,

which worked within the accepted tradition and the channels of communication (opera

houses, orchestral concerts, universities, radio networks, recording companies), and the

experimental composers, who preferred to work in other ways. (...) Actually, the

experimental work was more characteristic of American and English music than of

continental Europe. (GRIFFITHS, 1995: 150)3

Griffiths is referring to the artistic world of classical music, but his definition

applies perfectly to the tradition of popular music. The distinction between vanguard

and experimental is interesting, because, as argued by Howard Becker in his seminal

article Mundos artsticos e tipos sociais4 the vanguard, in spite of facing serious

difficulties in seeing their work realized, which sometimes may even not occur

2 So Paulo: Martins Fontes, 1995

3 The genesis itself of the concept of experimental music, such as it is presented by Griffiths, has

many points of contact with Hermetos trajectory. His emergence as a composer (which occurred

with the issuing of his first solo record in 1971) happened exactly at the height of experimental

music and, symptomatically, in the USA, which, according to Griffiths, was, much more than Europe

(with the exception of England), the main scene of experimental music. Cf. Michael Nyman,

Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond. London: Studio Vista, 1974.

4 In Gilberto Velho (org.), Arte e Sociedade ensaios de sociologia da arte. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge

Zahar, 1977, p. 9-25.

3

(p. 15) usually ends up by being absorbed by tradition and its conventional channels.

This because, according to Becker: the nonconformists came from an artistic world,

were trained in it, and, to a considerable degree, are still attuned to it. The

nonconformists intention seems to be to force his artistic world of origin to accept him,

demanding that, instead of his adapting to the conventions imposed by that world, it is

that world that should adapt to the conventions that he himself established to serve as a

basis for his work. And this is because the nonconformists do not renounce every, and

not even many, of the conventions of their art" (ibidem).

The concept presented by Griffiths seems appropriate for Hermeto, not only

because he definitely possesses an experimental style, which moves away from tradition

and convention, but also because the milieu in which he chooses to act is not the milieu

of the classical-music vanguard, nor of the popular one. Tropicalia, which is an

example of the vanguard in Brazilian popular music, was a movement with which

Hermeto had very little connection.

Hermeto had to and has to build his own space (that of self-taught

experimenter), in order to realize his artistic project, even in the field of instrumental

music, which also includes choro, jazz, etc.5

We have analyzed the following compositions: Srie de Arco, De

bandeja e tudo, Magimani Sagei, Briguinha de msicos malucos no coreto,

Cores from the LP Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo (Som da Gente, 1982); Papagaio

alegre, from the LP Lagoa da Canoa, Municpio de Arapiraca (Som da Gente, 1984);

Arapu, LP Brasil Universo (Som da Gente, 1987) and Aula de Natao from the

CD Festa dos Deuses (Polygram, 1992).6

5 See especially chapter III, for historical-biographical depth.

6 Besides these compositions, in chapter IV we briefly analyze the piece Ferragens, for piano and

solo. Ferragens was composed but not recorded in the period under study.

4

This repertoire was studied not only with regard to its structural aspects

(revealed through the analysis of the scores and the recordings), but also from

the viewpoint of the process of its genesis and creation, as well as the different nuances

of performance (captured through the transcription and description of the recorded

performances).

1.1. THE CONCEPTION AND LANGUAGE OF HERMETO PASCOAL: FIRST CONSIDERATIONS

In a position that defies limiting labels and boundaries, Hermeto Pascoals

language places him between popular and erudite music. Sometimes he is too

innovative according to the formulaic parameters of popular music, sometimes he is too

popular according to the structural parameters of erudite music. Thus, Hermeto

Pascoals experimental project is unique.

(...) I cant say what type of music I make. I make music, thats all. I play

an infinity of rhythms, of sounds, of harmonies, of types, of styles ... I adore playing

classical music (I label it because thats what people like. I hate that) and suddenly

I change to a carnival frevo from Recife or a baio from the Northeast. (HERMETO,

Jazz Magazine: 1984)

Hermeto is, in fact, the creator of a very personal language, in which the

dissonant harmonies of jazz are merged with popular rhythms and melodies, often

from the Brazilian Northeast, the region where he was born in 1936. Nevertheless,

his language is multidirectional, also containing elements that are common to

contemporary erudite music, such as polychords, polyrhythms, the non-conventional

use of conventional instruments and the exploration of noise and new possibilities of

timbre through a varied arsenal of percussion, comprising the most various sound-

producing objects.

Improvisation is another important feature of Hermeto Pascoals music. The

influence of American jazz is undeniable, although the improvisation practiced by

5

Hermeto is not limited (as usually happens in traditional jazz7) to the capacity for

melodic reinvention based on only one harmonic structure. He can, for example, (as

in Magimani Sagei), superimpose drum and bass ostinati, dogs barking, someone

saying disconnected words, and consider all this the harmonic basis on which

several flutes will improvise freely, and at the same time merge their timbres with

the dogs barks and the onomatopoeias and grunting voices through frullati,

glissandi and other resources, such as singing inside the flutes as the notes are

emitted.

In order to try to discover how the composer experiments with and innovates

in his use of musical language, one must also perceive his limits. As an example, we

can mention Hermetos refusal to accept technological advances, rejecting

synthesizers, computers, samplers, and such. Although he is a pioneer in the search

for new timbres and sonorities, he is very suspicious of sound technology, adopting

a position that might be considered conservative, since he restricts electronics in his

music only to amplified instruments, such as the electric piano and bass.

What Hermeto seems to hate in synthesizers is the perverse possibility of

standardization taking the place of creation, since in most electronic keyboards the

timbres are pre-set, that is, are set at the factory. A possible alternative to this

limitation imposed by keyboard technology - the creation of timbres through

computers - does not seem to be an option chosen by Hermeto.

On the other hand, his arsenal of timbres is greatly varied, and not a bit

conservative. It consists of acoustic objects such as pans, kettles, coffee pots, pails,

basins, bottles, sewing machines, hubcaps, bells, a horn used to call cattle in the

fields, horns, noise-making toys, etc., etc.

In addition to the always-varying instrumentarium, the use of the sounds

from the most diverse animals, in tune with the music, is also one of Hermetos

7 See chap. III for the relation established by Hermeto with American jazz.

6

stylistic trademarks. As an example, we can mention the grunting of hogs in the LP

Slave Mass (WEA, 1977), the barking of dogs and the shrilling of cicadas in the LP

Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo (Som da Gente, 1982), the screams of parrots in the LP

Lagoa da Canoa, Municpio de Arapiraca (Som da Gente, 1984), the cackling of

cocks and hens in the LP Brasil Universo (Som da Gente, 1985), the buzzing of bees

and the braying of donkeys in the LP8 S no toca quem no quer (Som da Gente,

1987), the songs of several different birds in the CD Festa dos Deuses (Polygram,

1993), as well as others. The limits that Hermeto established for himself through his

rejection of new technological resources do not seem to have affected his capacity

for invention and experimentation.

But how exactly did Hermeto conceive and consolidate in his language the

features of his experimental music that we have mentioned above?

1.2. THE AMAZING NATIVE VERSION

At first, to explain Hermetos amphibious characteristics, we imagined that he

had been in close touch with erudite music. This hypothesis, however, was vehemently

denied in our first interview with Jovino dos Santos Neto, a pianist in Hermetos band

in the period 1981-1993:

No, no, no, no, I mean, what I know about this story (Hermeto being in touch with

contemporary erudite music) is that when he played at the Radio Jornal do Comrcio in

Recife, there was a pianist who played classical music very well, and he kept watching the

guy rehearse (...) I mean, he never had a structural analysis of contemporary music (...) I

know that when he was with Edu Lobo out in Los Angeles, Edu kept showing him some

Stravinsky scores and he always says: Oh, I really wasnt very much interested in that.

(JOVINO, 1997)9

8 Beginning with this LP, issued in 1985, the records made by Hermeto Pascoal & Group at the Som da

Gente recording company up to Festa dos Deuses (Polygram, 1992), were simultaneously issued as CDs.

9 In a later interview, on 03/06/1999, we asked Hermeto about that experience with Stravinskys music,

and he spoke about it with some interest. The question seemed important to us because, in spite of

7

Jovinos revelation was amazing. We had taken Hermetos contact with

classical music as a given, something simply required verification as to dates, people

involved, teachers, schools etc. We were mistaken. Jovino suggested that we search

for the origins of Hermetos conception in his childhood in Lagoa da Canoa, in the

municipality of Arapiraca, in the distant hinterland of the state of Alagoas.

It is possible that, with Hermetos sharp perception and auditory retention,

these brief contacts with contemporary erudite music were sufficient for him to

incorporate them into his repertoire of sound. However, our initial hypothesis,

linking Hermetos experimental language to a presumable contact with erudite

music, had become, in view of Jovinos testimony, an inconsistent possibility. Let us

see, then, why Jovino stressed the importance of our going back to the composers

childhood in order to understand his musical conception.

According to Jovino, Hermetos harmonic language is cannot be summarized

by, but is almost totally based on, triadic structures superposed in a non-functional

manner. Jovino raises the possibility that this harmonic procedure originated in the

eight-bass accordion (also called p-de-bode literally goats hoof - in the

Northeast) that was Hermetos first instrument after the flutes made of branches

from the castor-oil plant and the pieces of iron used for percussion. The goats hoof

has two systems of buttons. The first system produces notes and is used for the

execution of melodies. The second one produces major, minor and dominant chords

used as accompaniment. Since it is not chromatic, the eight-bass accordion does not

possess all twelve tones, and is, therefore, a very limited instrument. Jovino told us

that, as a child, Hermeto would go to his blacksmith grandfathers junkyard and,

Jovinos statement that Hermeto showed little interest in Stravinskys music, we had noticed the

resemblance of some chords present in Hermetos music to those of the Russian composers. Although he

had heard Stravinsky only once, Hermeto showed that he had understood very well the manner in which

Stravinsky worked, , superimposing tonalities and, even though admitting some harmonic similarities, he

did not admit to being at all influenced in his language by Stravinsky.

8

hitting different pieces of iron, he sought their notes on the accordion, as well as the

partials that they produced.

So he would take those pieces of iron and hit them, they went (imitating the sound

of the iron), and he would seek the harmonics of those pieces of iron on his little accordion,

what notes are those, because a bell, a piece of iron, when hit produces several notes, the

main one, the fundamental, and a whole harmonic series that, depending on the

characteristics of the iron, will be totally atonal or not. (JOVINO, 1997)

We must now make a brief interruption to elucidate some problems regarding

acoustic terminology.

When a sonorous body vibrates, it produces not only a single note, but a

series of other sounds, called sine waves or partials. The note we hear is only the

lowest frequency of other frequencies (the harmonics or partials), usually with less

amplitude (volume) than the lowest frequency.

Harmonic and inharmonic partials are sine wave components. We distinguish

one term from the other according to the type of sound spectrum that they belong to.

Spectrum is the name given to the set of sound components that consists of the

lowest frequency and its harmonic or inharmonic partials. We shall use the term

harmonics when dealing with sounds that have a spectrum by that name

harmonic spectrum and inharmonic partials with regard to sounds whose

spectrum is inharmonic.

Sine waves are sounds that are neither harmonic nor inharmonic, for their

sound waves lack partials. That is also why sine waves are called pure sound.

However, as soon as this pure wave is transformed into an atmospheric vibration,

distortions are added to it, caused by the diffusing instrument, by the reflection from

the place where it is heard and by the organ of hearing itself. That is, simple

atmospheric propagation and auditory reception modify the pure sine wave, which

makes it, in a way, an acoustic abstraction. As sounds that are absolutely defined

9

with regard to pitch, sine waves are at one end of the sound continuum, with white

noise (which will be explained further on) at the other extreme.

Most musical instruments in the Western world, with the exception of some

of the percussion instruments, have a harmonic spectrum. In this type of spectrum,

the harmonics are related in simple proportions to the fundamental frequency. This

is why, in harmonic sounds, we hear the fundamental clearly, and at a very definite

pitch. The harmonics merge with it, modifying only its color, its timbre. The timbre

of a sound depends on the material that constitutes its source of emission, and on the

forms of attack, as well as the relation between its spectral components.

On the other hand, in inharmonic sounds, such as those produced by bells,

pieces of iron and metallic objects, the partials that comprise their spectrums do not

have a relatively simple proportional relation between them, as the harmonic sounds

do. Here the proportions between the partials are more complex, and because of this,

the inharmonic spectrum is formed of groups of frequencies that are different from

the harmonic spectrum. The ear is no longer easily able to clearly identify the lowest

frequency of the spectrum, for in the case of inharmonic sounds the partials do not

merge with the lowest frequency, as they do in harmonic sounds.

If the complexity of the relation of the partials to the lowest frequency is

increased, we will have what is known in acoustics as noise. In noise, the

inharmonic partials are so irregularly disposed that the identification of a definite

pitch (as occurs in harmonic spectrums) or even the perception of indefinite pitches

and partials (as occurs in the inharmonic spectrums of bells, iron and metallic

objects) becomes impossible. Noises, in turn, also have different types. The notion

of color in sounds is connected to the frequency regions present in them. A larger

frequency ambience produces white noise, which, when filtered into narrower

frequency bands, becomes colored noise.

10

Thus, we can understand sound as a tripartite continuum: the sounds as sine

waves; those with a harmonic spectrum; and those with an inharmonic spectrum.10

As he tried to reproduce the inharmonic sonorities of the pieces of iron with

the triads and isolated notes from the eight-bass accordion, Hermeto began to

develop, according to Jovino, his harmonic language. This prematurely experimental

idiom not only combined notes and chords in unorthodox ways, it also brought

together harmonic sounds (from the accordion) and inharmonic ones (from pieces of

iron, animals and nature).

Beginning from these childhood experiences, Jovino believes that Hermeto

developed and consolidated a harmonic language partially based on triads, which he

superimposes on each other, generating vertical groupings of greater or lesser

complexity and intervallic tension.

In this process, you have elasticity of the chords, where you can take an

absolutely square, normal chord and you [imitates the sound of something tearing]

open it (...) You can prolong this chord until it becomes absolutely atonal, and

return. (JOVINO, 1997)

The superimposition of triadic structures is not exactly an original invention.

Both classical music, through polytonality, and jazz make use of this procedure. If,

however, we agree with Jovino, the path Hermeto followed to its discovery, as well

as the use he made and makes of it, are uniquely part of his personal trajectory.

In jazz, the use of this harmonic tool comes up against many limits related to

the tensions available in the chord scales. The forbidden notes, considered as such

10 According to the terminology proposed by Dennis Smalley in Spectro-morphology and Structuring

Process, The Language of electroacoustic music, Simon Emmerson (editor). London: Macmillan Press,

1986, p. 69-93. We have delved more deeply into acoustic and psycho-acoustic considerations in chap. IV

of the present thesis.

11

because they produce dissonances that deprive the melody and the harmony of their

characteristics, result in a considerable reduction of this idiom, as we can see from

the following quotation taken from Ian Guests method of popular arrangement:

The chord scales (used in the triads) are deduced from the harmonic

analysis and from the melodic notes. (...) We recommend that the passage chosen

for TSS (triads of superior structure) should be the climax of the arrangement,

and only for a limited time. It is appropriate for moments of great harmonic

richness and little melodic activity. (GUEST, 1999: 35/36)11

Art music, however, has made a much more ample use of them since

the time of Debussy and Stravinsky, and their use was decisive for the later

emancipation of dissonance. The famous Petrushka chord is the superposition

of two perfect major chords, C major and F# major, and in the Omens of Spring,

from the Sacre du Printemps, the E major chord is superposed on the

E-flat major with an added seventh. (Barraud, 1968: 51/53)

Though Stravinsky uses this technique in passages that last for several bars,

Hermeto does not do the same. In Hermeto, this technique leads to constant

superimpositions in almost every measure, which would be enough to define it not

as polytonal but rather polychordal. The individual chords of these superimpositions

vary so frequently that they do not establish either tonal or polytonal centers.

As Persichetti explains:

Polyharmony is rarely polytonal. Polytonality is present only when the

individual chords that comprise the structure belong to separate tonal centers.

Non- polytonal polychords are considerably more flexible and versatile; the

11 Ian Guest is referring to a specific arrangement technique, TSS, in which each note of the melody

is harmonized en bloc with triads. These triads are called triads of superior structure because they

are played by the strings, the woodwinds or brasses, above the harmonic base, usually played by the

piano. It is important to observe that, according to Ian, the TSS are deduced from the chord scales of

the harmonic base, and cannot contain notes that are foreign to it. This orientation establishes the

limits of its use in jazz and in popular music.

12

harmonic areas of the individual chords that comprise them alter very frequently.

(PERSICHETTI, 1985: 138)12

Thus, Jovino suggested the possibility that Hermeto might have constructed

certain musical elements of his language common to contemporary erudite music

autonomously, independent of real contact with classical schools and teachers.

Hermetos autodidactic learning of music is, actually, a concrete fact, as we

shall see throughout this thesis. This fact can be explained by the visual deficiency

caused by Hermetos albinism, which, while keeping him since childhood from

learning to read music, also kept him away from teachers and schools, making him

develop his own language and conception.

In any case, we must consider that the virginity of the first musical

experiences that occurred in Hermetos childhood and their undeniable importance

for the understanding of his future musical conception, must have been consolidated

and expanded with the passage of time, during his professional trajectory after he

left Lagoa da Canoa. To that end, chapter III will present a brief biography of

Hermeto (and the members of the Group that accompanied him from 1981 to 1993),

in order to perceive how his musical conception was formed throughout the phases

of his career, up to the recording of the repertoire that we shall then analyze.

Before doing so, however, we shall begin a bibliographical discussion of the

aspects that interest us with regard to Hermeto, with the aim of enriching and

expanding the issues that were initially addressed. We shall return to the interview

with Jovino during the discussion that follows.

In it, we comment upon the masters degree theses: Msica de Inveno

defended by Pretextato Taborda at UNI-RIO in1998; and Um estudo da

improvisao na msica de Hermeto Pascoal: transcries e solos improvisados,

12 Save when mentioned, all the translations are ours.

13

defended by Jos Carlos Prandini at UNICAMP in1996. We also look at various

news stories and reports covering Hermeto, and then finally go back to Jovinos

interview in order to expand the discussion.

The three chapters that follow are, in fact, only one long analytical chapter

that tries to put the object into perspective in complementary ways.

In chapter III, we approach our object based on information gathered through

interviews conducted by us, and we present a brief biography of Hermeto13

and

Group up to the beginning of the group under study (1981). We describe the creative

process of the compositions selected for analysis, and examine the relation between

Hermeto Pascoals writing and improvisation.

Chapter IV introduces the chapter that follows it. In this chapter we delve

more deeply into some acoustic notions that will be used in the analysis. Noise is

dealt with as a social metaphor, as a well as an acoustic phenomenon. We shall

briefly analyze the piece Ferragens, as an example of how Hermeto dialogues with

harmonic and inharmonic sound spectrums in his musical language.14

In chapter V, the information obtained from the interviews dealing with the

creative process of each one of the compositions chosen for analysis is compared to

their scores, transcriptions and recordings. The analyses we perform are aimed at

perceiving the musical structure of the repertoire we have chosen (its form,

instrumentation, rhythmic-harmonic language, etc.), without, however, losing sight

of biographical aspects and related concepts.

After interviewing15

the composer and the group, discussing the bibliography

pertinent to the theme presented in masters degree theses, news stories and reports,

culminating in the analysis of the scores and recordings of the compositions

13 With help from a few bibliographical sources that will be cited opportunely.

14 Composed, but not recorded, during the period under study. 15 See bibliography.

14

selected, in chapter VI we shall offer our answers to the questions presented in the

introduction.

15

2. BIBLIOGRAPHIC DISCUSSION

Academic papers on Hermeto Pascoal are rare, and it can be said that his

extensive works have as yet gone unexplored by musicology.16

In contrast the number

of articles, news items and reports about Hermeto in the Brazilian and international

press is considerable.

Nevertheless, there is a growing interest in Hermeto in academic circles, as

attested by some recent masters degree theses.

We shall now discuss this recent academic production, as well as examine

newspapers and magazines, presenting excerpts from several interviews given by the

composer.

2.1. FROM AN ERUDITE VIEW POINT

In his masters degree thesis, Msica de inveno (Music of Invention)

defended at UNI-RIO in 1998, Tato Taborda analyzes the production of some Brazilian

artists, in order to illustrate his hypothesis relative to the formation of a hybrid territory

(the territory Taborda calls music of invention), established mainly by the contact

between the erudite and the popular universes.

Taborda relates some aspects of the conception and language of Hermeto

Pascoal to Luigi Russolos futuristic noisism and to Pierre Schaeffers concrete music.

The researcher points out several features that Hermeto and Schaeffer have in common:

the research on several everyday acoustic objects, the acceptance of new sounds, the

attraction to noises, etc.

16 The exact number is unknown. Jovino Santos Neto, pianist and composer, has around 1200

compositions by Hermeto. But, since 1993, when Jovino left the band, how many more compositions has

Hermeto produced? In 1997, for example, Hermeto accomplished his project of producing a new

composition every day, to celebrate the birthday of everyone in the world. We mention this project, not

because of its picturesque quality, but merely to show how impossible it is to evaluate the true extent of

Hermetos production.

16

The comparison that Taborda draws between Hermeto and Schaeffer effectively

underscores some features of Hermetos conception.

An important similarity between Schaeffers Musique Concrte and Hermeto,

which was aptly observed by Taborda, is the rejection of synthesized sound. In fact,

during the period on which our study is based (1981-1993), Hermeto restricted the use

of electricity in his band to the piano and the bass. A sampler with pre-recorded sounds

of pigs, hens, dogs, and other animals was tested by Hermeto, but without much

success.

I am trying out the instrument (the sampler), but it isnt measuring up. It

only works as a recorder of animal sounds, Ive already recorded the goat, the sheep,

the bull. But, when it comes to recording a higher sound, the sampler reproduces

that horrible synthesizer sound, that doesnt synthesize anything at all. (...) I dont

call it a sampler, I call it a keyboard recorder. Ive even used the keyboard recorder

in some tracks of the record Im making, but I dont mention it in the credits because

it doesnt do anything, just records the sound. If its an instrument, its supposed to

be used by me, not the other way around. Im not going to give the manufacturer

any publicity. (HERMETO, O Globo: 05/19/98)

In another passage of his thesis, and based on a quotation from Schaeffer,

Taborda draws an interesting parallel between the French composer and Hermeto:

March Back in Paris, I begin to collect objects. I go to the Sound Effects Service

at the French Radio and find clapperboards, coconut shells, bicycle pumps. I organize a

scale with pumps. (...) I leave the place as joyful as a child, with my arms full of stuff.

April 4 Sudden enlightenment: merge an element of sound to the noise, that is:

associate the melodic element to elements of percussion. Thus, the idea for pieces of wood

cut at different lengths and tubes more or less tuned in a scale. First attempts. (Schaeffer in

TABORDA, 1998)

Schaeffers ludic behavior in looking for sonorous objects (I leave the place

as joyful as a child, with my arms full of stuff), can, in fact, be related to Hermeto,

a confirmed stealer of his grandchildrens noise-making toys and of the pots and

pans from his wife Ilzas kitchen.

17

Jovino, the pianist, had already admonished us, as mentioned in chapter 1,

that the roots of Hermetos musical conception should first be sought in his

childhood, in the inharmonic experience with the sounds of his blacksmith

grandfathers pieces of iron, in the flutes made out of branches from the castor-oil

tree, in the sounds of the birds and the animals, in the northeastern music of his

accordionist father, etc.

As Taborda aptly describes it, Hermetos experimentalism is deeply related to

spontaneity and pleasure. In our view, this is due to the fact that Hermetos

exploration of sound is strongly connected with childrens play. Music has always

been, ever since his days in Lagoa da Canoa, Hermetos main toy. Forbidden to play

in the sunshine with the other children, Hermeto seems to have channeled all his

ludic feelings into play with sound. Even today, Hermetos search for the unusual is

joyful, without the seriousness of some contemporary movements, which over-

rationalize the experimental. On the back cover of the LP Crebro Magntico (WEA

Brasil, 1980), where there is a drawing made by Hermeto, he writes:

(...) After finishing the recording of this LP, everything stayed in my mind:

sound, colors, lights, musical notes, kernels of corn, drum leather, bulls horn, stones,

water, voices, keys, strings, buttons, sharps and faces (...) So I decided to draw what I

photographed in my mind, and that is the cover of this LP. (HERMETO, 1980).

Mixing forms that suggest colorful little trains, fish, kites and flags,

Hermetos drawing brings together childrens play and fantasy. The position of these

and other elements floating freely in space and the use of vivid, bright colors seem

to suggest the lightness, the movement and the gracefulness of a childs drawing.

In the drawing there appear musical notes written on a system of seven lines in

which the absence of a clef prevents one from identifying their pitch. The notes are

always disposed in thirds.17

17 See chaps. IV and V with regard to the melodic-harmonic use of triads in Hermetos music.

18

The mental landscape painted by Hermeto, in an attempt to represent the

sounds and images of the newly recorded LP, also points to another important

feature of his conception: the relation between sound and its written expression.

Hermetos attitude towards writing similar to Schaeffers, according

to Taborda:

In traditional musical composition, one starts from a mental configuration of

the sound, later represented on a graphic support through a score or diagram, and

finally materialized as sound through the process of execution. In Concrete Music,

however, the process is inverted, beginning with a so-called concrete material sound,

collected directly from reality through microphones and later manipulated, through an

explicitly experimental process, until it finally arrives at its definitive sound form,

without the indispensable help of graphic representation. Hermetos sound discourse is

also a musical discourse of objects, detached from their original, everyday attributes

through the same tool that, in the set of values originated by Schaeffer, also occupies a

privileged position: Loreille. These objects are selected and individualized through

unique and irreplaceable characteristics, which make that specific pan, that sewing

machine, that pair of clogs, that electric train, or that particular pig an absolutely

unique sonorous object. (TABORDA, 1998: 105)

Taborda is right when he compares the Schaefferian process of collecting,

and creating with, sonorous objects to Hermetos research in and use of certain

sounds. It is interesting to discover, however, what motivation Hermeto had for the

intention of listening that led him so spontaneously to the non-conventional, for we

found no indication of his having had any effective contact with Schaeffers music.

We have discovered, through several interviews with Hermeto and the group,

that, due to the visual deficiency caused by albinism that has already been

mentioned, and the ensuing refusal (that took place ever since his childhood in

Lagoa da Canoa) of the teachers to give musical instruction to a boy who had great

difficulty in reading, Hermeto , instead of giving up music, took the unfavorable

situation as a stimulus, and became a self-taught virtuoso multi-instrumentalist, as

well as a composer and arranger. Thus, not only did he prove, to those who doubted

19

his capacity, that he could play as well or better than anyone else, but, since then, he

also began to question the boundaries of that written music whose doors had been

closed to him.

In a recent interview, many years after having been refused by teachers who

thought that only those that could read music were fit for it, Hermeto still seems to

be addressing musicians who think the same when he says: Music isnt theory.

Theory is a writing. If you dont have music in your mind, you cant write music,

music isnt supposed to be understood, its supposed to be felt. How are you going

to understand the wind? (Backstage, 1998)

This nonconformity with regard to convention and patterns makes Hermeto

seek for the most diverse sounds and timbres, exploring conventional instruments in

a non-conventional manner (for instance, playing the baritone sax near the snares of

the snare drum, or playing the flute underwater) or the opposite (tuning plastic food

containers, playing the berrante [a horn used to call cattle in the fields] with a bass

sax mouthpiece), not to mention the sounds of animals.

Lately, he has begun to use the human voice as musical raw material,

considering it a melody to be duly harmonized and arranged by the composer.

Hermeto calls this type of composition aura music, and one of his first attempts,

Tiruliluli in the LP Lagoa da Canoa, Municpio de Arapiraca (Som da Gente,

1984) has been analyzed by Taborda in his thesis. The apparent simplicity of the

procedure that characterizes aura music, however, is very revelatory of Hermetos

conception. With aura music, he shows how far-reaching the sound limits of his

esthetic territory are: when we speak, we sing, so we all make music all the time.

Tabordas study is very helpful, for, through comparisons with the (pre)-

concrete music of Pierre Schaeffer and the noisism of Luigi Russolo, he draws an

esthetic profile of Hermeto Pascoal, pointing out some of his important features.

20

Before going deeper into our conclusions about Tabordas thesis, we shall proceed

to another thesis.

2.2. FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF JAZZ

Um estudo da improvisao na msica de Hermeto Pascoal: transcrio de

solos improvisados (A study of improvisation in the music of Hermeto Pascoal:

trancriptions of improvised solos), the masters degree thesis defended by Jos

Carlos Prandini at Unicamp in 1996, analyzes some solos improvised by Hermeto.

The analytical methodology employed by the researcher intends not only to

transcribe these solos or to consider them only from their harmony-melody (solo)

relation, but also to analyze them in order to verify the construction and structuring

of internal elements, motifs or even smaller units of text (Prandini, 1996: 18). That

is, the researcher proposes to deal with the improvisation not merely by transcribing

it or analyzing it solely through the use of tools of the chord/scales type (see

functional harmony), but rather by considering it as a composition with specific

motifs, variations, modified repetitions, developments, etc.

Introducing the notion of improvisation as a non-written composition is

undoubtedly an interesting proposition. Although we do not wish to criticize such a

notion in detail, but rather would wish to expand its limits, with a view to a better

understanding of the meaning of the concept of improvisation with regard to

Hermeto Pascoal, even so, we might question how far improvisation, as Prandini

understands it, can and should be considered a structure similar or equal to the

musical structure elaborated through writing. In our view, writing is a medium that

affects the construction of a work, for it allows several ways of manipulating the

musical material (such as variations, retrogrades, condensations, sequencings,

repetitions, etc.) which are less easily used when the composer-performer depends

solely on his memory, such as occurs during the improvisation.

21

In her text, Escuta e eletroacstica: composio e anlise18

, Carole

Gubernikoff seems to agree with our line of reasoning, when dealing with the

role of writing in western music:

The civilization that calls itself western, beginning at a certain point in

time during the Middle Ages, believed that it was necessary to find a form of

writing the memory of sound, evanescent by nature (...) Not only was it necessary

to create a continuum, but also to define measures and distances, to transform a

sense of sound, without image or concept, into a graphic representation that

introduced a new path in musical thinking. Instead of passing from the ear to the

mouth through memory, which could be called vocality, the intermediation of

the eyes and of the hands invented new dimensions, curiosities, intellectual games. (...)

The very idea of musical form, certainly based on the reiteration of auditory elements,

on the recognition of configurations through memory, but also on the manipulation

of the musical elements observed through the notation, allowed the idea

of development, [...] and the appearance of the major forms. (italics ours)

(GUBERNIKOFF, 1997: 29)

That is why we believe an analysis that examines a type of musico-oral

discourse solely with the same tools used in the evaluation of notation to be only

partially advantageous. In our opinion, the efficacy of this type of analysis will

depend upon the musician - that is, on how the improvisations are developed by

each performer; as well as the duration of the improvisation which, in turn, will

affect the capacity for memorization of the performer and the use of recurrent

musical elements; the space where the improvised solo took place and the

participation of the public (with shouts, whistles, applause, etc.) which might

suggest to the musician some material that was entirely unanticipated at the start,

etc. That, however, is not the issue that interests us at the moment.

18 In Detalhes, Cadernos do Programa de Ps-Graduao em Msica, 1st number. Rio de Janeiro: Centro

de Letras e Artes UNI-RIO, 1997.

22

Let us see how Prandini initially differentiates improvisation in modern

popular music (that is, in jazz) from the improvisation practiced during the baroque,

classical and romantic periods:

When making a bibliographic search for the vocabulary entry improvisation,

we found references to the subject with relation to the baroque, classical and romantic

periods. These references treat the term as a set of techniques of musical construction

basically aimed at what is conventionally called ornamentation. In this type of

improvisation, the performers creativity is quite circumscribed to the modification

(variation) of a known melodic text. On the other hand, in the panorama of modern

improvised popular music, we have observed that this approach is only one of the

possible techniques in the creation of an improvised solo, and is used rarely or in short

passages throughout the work. (...) What is much more frequent is the creation of

entirely new melodies, through the invention of a whole collection of new motifs,

variations and developments. This set of procedures [practiced nowadays in popular

music] goes a few steps beyond the previous procedure. (PRANDINI, 1996: 10/13)

Thus, in an attempt to treat Hermetos improvisation as the creation of an

entirely new melody, Prandini transcribes and analyzes the solos from four

compositions recorded by Hermeto Pascoal & Group in the period 1985-1992: Ilha

das Gaivotas, O tocador quer beber, Ginga carioca and Surpresa.

In Ilha das gaivotas, Prandini transcribes the solo, analyzing it as

a composition and in the manner we have already described. He identifies

six motifs in it, certain repetitions and developments which we shall not stop

to consider, for his harmonic analysis will be more useful for us to understand

the limits of his approach.

Prandinis analysis is restricted to the models of functional harmony and

their intersections with the conception of melody as a development of the harmonic

bases, a perspective adopted by the American schools of jazz.

23

For instance, the ostinato motif that is the harmonic basis for the solo in Ilha

das gaivotas is mistakenly analyzed by Prandini as: a single chord, with a tonic

function: F-sharp minor with seventh, ninth and eleventh (PRANDINI, 1996: 31).

Limited by traditional harmonic formulas, Prandini perceives only one

suggestion of cadence to the dominant in the phrasing of the bass (bar 4), but actually,

the harmonic situation suggests an additional interpretation. The ostinato remains

unaltered on the right hand with the notes A2, B2, E3, G-sharp3, but the bass proceeds

chromatically and dissonantly bending 19 the right hand chord. Besides the chord

mentioned by Prandini, we have another one in the second bar, also used by Hermeto in

other compositions, such as Cores, Briguinhas de msicos malucos no coreto and

Ferragens. In Ilha das gaivotas, the chord is written on the staff, but in the other

pieces it appears in shorthand as . 20

19 In the vocabulary used by popular musicians, to bend means to introduce notes that are foreign to a

specific harmonic or melodic context.

20 The interval structure of this chord is maintained throughout the transpositions, see chapter V.

Example 2: Ilha das gaivotas (second bar)

Example 1: "Ilha das gaivotas" (harmony for the solo)

24

This type of figure used by Hermeto, with two superposed chords, occurs in

non-conventional harmonic situations and has the advantage of indicating an exact

positioning of the notes in the figures. , an interval structure that is

idiomatic in Hermeto Pascoal, consists of the notes F and D in the bass (left hand of

the piano) and A, B, E and G-sharp in the right hand. We might think of a

polychord, D minor (with bass note F) + Mi major, or else a single chord, F major

with augmented sixth, major seventh, ninth and eleventh.

As we can see, Prandini did not consider the ambiguity of the harmony in

ostinato, of the riff 21

created by Hermeto:

(...) Restricted to only one chord (...), the piece offers limited possibilities for

the melodic construction (...) and, throughout the whole piece (the improvised solo),

the frankly diatonic and horizontal intention of the composition is evident, from

the constant use of the three minor scales of F-sharp minor. (The underlining and

the explanation in parentheses are ours). (PRANDINI, 1996: 31)

Prandini does not identify the constant play of tension, dissonance and

relaxation provided by the relation of the three minor scales (natural, harmonic and

melodic) of F-sharp minor used in the solo, continuously harmonized with F-sharp

minor 7 9 11 and F/6 + A2 5 7M in the accompaniment. In our view, the whole solo

should be analyzed based on this light/shadow, bright/dark relation suggested by

the harmony, which Prandini disregarded. Hermetos so-called jazz conception is

complicated by the fact that he makes use of a shifting harmonic basis that goes

beyond the limits of conventional jazz.

In O tocador quer beber, Prandini makes a good analysis of Hermetos

accordion solo, pointing out the unity of his motifs, the modal characteristics of

melody and harmony, etc. But his analysis of Hermetos solo is interrupted exactly

at the best part, when the musician decides to make dissonant the simple harmony

21 We shall explain the term riff further on.

25

(IV7-I) of his forr, while saying: This is an uppity accordionist who wants to play

modern, look at his left hand, a real uppity accordionist (HERMETO, 1985)22.

At that point, unfortunately, Prandini interrupts his analysis, though the solo

has not yet finished. Hermeto continues improvising, accompanied by several cocks

and hens that, according to him, are in tune with the instruments.23 At first, he

maintains the same Mixolydian scale on top of the new harmony, and then he

bends his own solo, introducing glissandos, puffs in clusters from the accordion,

very brief rhythmic-melodic designs, chromatic and in 4ths, etc. The forr becomes

free jazz, and the uppity accordionist finishes his solo in an atonal duo with the

hens and cocks.

Although Prandinis analysis of most of Hermetos solo was satisfactory,

by interrupting it exactly at the point when the solo departs from the stylistic scheme

of the forr , he misses observing an important feature of Hermetos solos, as

well as of his conception: the way in which the elements of Brazilian and

northeastern popular language (modality, instrumentation with regional sonority)

combine with the elements of American jazz (dissonant re-harmonizing) and

free jazz (aleatoricism, atonalism). The use of sounds of animals such as cocks

and hens in tune with the instruments constitutes, in turn, as we said in the

previous chapter, a stylistic signature of Hermetos, added to the other animal

sounds already used by him.

One must question the concept of improvisation employed by Prandini,

extending it beyond a performers capacity for creating new melodies from a pre-

established harmonic scheme. And when there is no pre-established harmonic

scheme (as in the case of forr free jazz)? Or when the harmonic scheme itself is

shifty, consisting of polychords (as in Ilha das gaivotas)? The improvisation

22 LP Brasil Universo, O tocador quer beber track, Som da Gente 1985.

23 Cf. the insert in the CD of Brasil Universo.

26

practiced by Hermeto in both the examples above surpasses the limits established by

Prandini himself.

In our view, Hermetos improvisation should be understood not only in the

context of performance, but also on a compositional and esthetic level.24

Because

one of Hermetos main features, as Taborda so aptly observed, is his systematic and

joyful search for the unexpected, the surprise. And this remarkable feature is

reflected not only in his performance as an artist, but also in his performance as a

composer.

As he used to say to his musicians: its necessary to compose and write as if

it were an improvisation, and to play an improvisation as if it were written (Jovino,

1997). More than the capacity for creating new melodies from an x, y or z harmonic

scheme, improvisation, for Hermeto, is a guarantee of organicity and musical

fluidity, and more than being a stylistic resource, it has existential status.25

2.3. CONCLUSION REGARDING THE PAPERS DISCUSSED ABOVE

Our conclusion with regard to the two masters degree theses is, in a certain

measure, only one: Hermetos conception and language are truly challenging,

because they are manifold. By questioning both the labels of the cultural industry

and the limits of the classical and popular universe, Hermeto challenges those who

wish to study him, raising doubts about his own ability to explain and define

himself, (although, in the following quote, he ends up by partially doing so):

Im a versatile musician and no one can define me. Not even I, myself, am able

to explain the work that I do. Because I dont do just one kind of thing. (...)

A presentation of mine is the possibility of meeting up with several kinds of music,

24 For a deeper study of the relation between improvisation and writing in Hermeto Pascoal, see

the next chapter.

25 Ibidem previous.

27

from the classical to the coco, from all of the universes. Nothing is premeditated.

(HERMETO, Manchete Magazine: 1985)

By combining signs from different codes, Hermeto creates a language that

permanently establishes noise26 in the communication of his message, and, in

consequence, the phenomenon of its interpretation becomes problematical. Let us

see the problems that Hermeto Pascoals conception and language generate.

2.3.1. JAZZ?

Prandinis work only partially fulfills its promise, not only with regard to the

solo-harmony relation, but also with regard to the analysis of Hermetos improvised

solos with the same tools used for the analysis of the motifs of written compositions.

The researcher transcribes Hermetos solos from recordings, and then

proceeds to analysis of their specific motifs, developments, the relation between

melody and harmony, etc. But many difficulties are found in this analysis. They

begin with the superficiality of the harmonic analysis (see, for instance, Ilha das

gaivotas), and continue with the free atonal solos (O tocador quer beber), where

the usefulness of the chord scales simply disappears, which makes Prandini abandon

the analysis of the solo before it ends, instead of extending his own analytical tools.

Another observation that could be made about Prandinis work concerns the

appropriateness of the repertoire that he chose for analysis. Why did he not choose

solos based on more dissonant, or even atonal, harmonic schemes (as, for example,

the one in Arapu), or else solos recorded live (and not in the studio)?27 Hermeto

26

See the notion of noise in Jacques Attali in the next chapter.

27 Hermetos only live recording was made at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Perhaps because of the

fact that Hermeto was accompanied by another group of musicians, different, in part, from the 1981-

1993 period, Prandini may not have wanted to use the solos recorded in that album, which, however,

is a pity, because Hermeto and the musicians presented a truly historic performance, with memorable

improvisations. In Montreux, Jovino Santos, Itiber Zwarg and Antnio Santana, musicians who

28

himself has declared that he preferred to emphasize the arrangement rather than the

improvisation in the studio recordings made during the period chosen by Prandini.28

Undoubtedly, the solos improvised live by Hermeto are quite different from the ones

recorded in a studio; to begin with, they are of longer duration, and Hermeto himself

is more spontaneous, even exploring his voice concurrently with his instrument,

soloing alternately on different instruments, and being influenced by the ambient

sound and the occasional interference and reaction of the audience, etc. While these

circumstances and characteristics, so peculiar to the popular universe, might make

Prandinis task more difficult, at the same time they certainly might enrich it, by

extending his approach and interpretation.

The final impression of Prandinis work is that he tries to fit Hermeto into a

perspective similar to that of certain American schools of jazz, but the harmonic-

melodic elements of Hermetos language resist such a perspective as they would a

straitjacket, seeming always to escape the limits it imposes.

2.3.2 CONCRETE MUSIC?

Tato Tabordas thesis, Msica de Inveno (Music of Invention), draws a

very interesting profile of Hermeto, emphasizing, as we have said, some of the

musicians significant features. The difficulty seems to be in how Hermeto reached,

through his music, a degree of experimentalism similar to that found in erudite

music, without having depended on an effective contact with erudite tendencies,

such as concrete music or futuristic noisism.

The main element that formed the territory of music of invention is,

according to Taborda, the contact between popular and erudite musicians.

were also part of the group under consideration (1981-1993), already belonged to Hermetos band.

See discography.

28 Which was not common at the beginning of his career, when his recordings were much more

improvised. See chapter III.

29

The intervention of contemporary erudite musicians, subsidizing popular

musicians with techniques and concepts, is the most important element in the formation

of this borderline territory, here called music of invention. (TABORDA, 1998: 119-120)

The quartet of influential agents: H.J. Koellreutter, concretists from the state

of So Paulo, Hlio Oiticica, and Latin American Contemporary Music Courses are,

according to Taborda, the main genealogical tree from which several artists

descend, including those that are discussed by Taborda.

Hermeto, however, is the only one of the four musicians chosen Caetano

Veloso (in Tropiclia and in Ara Azul), Jards Macal and Chico Mello are the

other three who represents an exception in this most important element of the

music of invention.

Caetano first came in touch with erudite music through the Bahia Seminars,

and through H.J. Koellreutter and Walter Smetak. Later, during the Tropiclia phase,

the erudite-popular contact came about with Caetanos involvement with the

Campos brothers, with concrete poetry and with classically-trained musicians, such

as Rogrio Duprat, Damiano Cozzela, etc.

Macal, simultaneously with the rock influences of the 60s, had lessons with

composers Edino Krieger and Esther Scliar, former members of the group Msica

Viva, through whom he extended his knowledge of classical musical language,

especially of the contemporary type. (p.73)

As for Chico Mello, his classical training comes from composition classes

under Jos Penalva, in the Latin American Contemporary Music Courses, and,

mainly, from a prolonged contact with H. J. Koellreutter. (p. 90)

But what about Hermeto? Whose pupil was he? His autodidactic and

popular education, unlike that of the other musicians mentioned, does not seem

to be related to contact with H. J. Koellreutter, the Latin American Contemporary

30

Music Courses, the Msica Viva group, the Campos brothers, and, even less,

to the Tropiclia movement. These people, groups and movements had no direct

influence on Hermeto. That is why, in order not to totally abandon the

main element for the formation of the territory of music of invention, which

is contact with classical musicians providing popular musicians with techniques

and concepts, Taborda links Hermeto mainly to Pierre Schaeffer and also to

Luigi Russolo.

By creating an interesting, but biographically unjustified, connection between

Schaeffers music at the beginning of the research that would lead him to concrete

music and the (not less) playful Hermeto, Tabordas work acquires a hypothetical

character. Even though Taborda points out that the comparisons he makes do not

mean the establishment of direct causality between the work under study and the

work referred to, and that they will mainly help to exemplify that the attitude of

disposability created by experimentation can lead creators from different

environments to produce very similar sound results, although obtained through very

diverse methods and paths (p. 7), would it not be more appropriate for Taborda to

find the influences on Hermetos inventive language in something closer to him, as

he did with Caetano Veloso, Jards Macal and Chico Mello? In the universe of

popular music, for instance, through Hermetos activity as an arranger, or in free

jazz, which, as the most experimental segment of jazz (p. 17), is included by

Taborda himself in the space of music of invention, as one of its analogous

territories (ibidem).

Taborda, however, does not emphasize the biographically-justified relation

between Hermeto and free jazz, preferring to link him to concrete music. Although

Tabordas choice is not gratuitous, since the parallel drawn between Schaeffer

and Hermeto proves to be useful, why not include in this field of possibilities

other composers with whom Hermeto shares certain similarities, such as

31

the iconoclastic Charles Ives (who had experiences with the inharmonic sounds

of metallic objects in his childhood), Bla Bartok (influenced by the rhythms,

melodies and harmonies of Hungarian popular music), Scriabin (the synesthetic

relation between sounds and colors), Stravinsky (polytona lity), Messiaen (the use

of animal sounds), and others?

For, if there are similarities between Schaeffer and Hermeto, there are also

marked differences, such as, for instance, the latters refusal to process the sonorous-

musical objects electronically, as well as not isolating noises in the Schaefferian

manner, instead combining them with the sounds of the instruments.

Hermetos musical conception is so contemporary that it allows the

most diverse comparisons. It is necessary, however, that its specificity

be un