The wizard between Hermes and Hermeto.
On September 13, 2025, in Rio de Janeiro, the world lost Hermeto Pascoal — Brazil’s music genius, born June 22, 1936, in Arapiraca. This made me reflect on the privilege of having known him as an artist and as a person: one of the most original and sensitive I've ever known.
I met Hermeto and his band while drawing them at Sines’ FMM Festival in 2005. How can I forget that night when he made a rhythm on a broken keyboard with some flip-flops, turning chaos into music? Or that memorable lunch where he played an empty bubble-gum blister like a bird and stopped the whole restaurant? There he was, a force of nature — fierce and sweet at once!
At his place, he showed me his collection of toy instruments and drawings. After seeing mine, he asked me to teach him — I almost fainted! My portrait of him became his website cover for years and was also shared on his social media.
Few of his drawings are public, but his 2019 Latin Grammy-winning album, Hermeto Pascoal e sua Visão Original do Forró's cover, is. He made this one for me.
Hermeto had a curious, generous, childlike spirit. A life of learning made him a great master. His name comes from Hermes, Greek god of communication, interpretation, magic, and music. It's the fastest planet and symbolizes the mind, expression, feminine and masculine. Hermes ruled hands, played lyre and flute, and wore winged sandals. Like him, Hermeto — rooted in nature — blended worlds, connected sounds, genres, and ideas with cosmic fluidity.
Miles said Hermeto was one of the most important musicians on the planet and that he’d want to be Hermeto if reborn. Hermeto and his group won three Latin Grammys (2018, 2019, 2024), the last with Pra Você, Ilza, dedicated to his first wife and mother of his six children — a final ode to love supreme.
This is my English version of the Portuguese original article, published at Jazz.pt.
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