99 Hermeto Pascoal stories - 6

The birth of the "Bandinha"

As our Grupo went through some personnel changes in 1980-81, we also started to diversify our instrumentation. Hermeto bought a baritone horn (his first brass instrument) and learned how to play it in no time at all (That story will be told later). Meanwhile, Itiberê Zwarg purchased an old sousaphone tuba and started to bring it on his delivery bike to the rehearsals. I had bought my first flute in 1979 in Tokyo, and Hermeto started to write music for the new instruments in the Grupo.

With the arrival of Carlos Malta (flute, saxophones) and Marcio Bahia (drums, percussion) in 1981, we started to experiment with a new concept: a marching band, called by the affectionate nickname bandinha (little band). We were all playing instruments that were portable, and Hermeto started to compose a wide variety of tunes for that format. Some were really old school marching band stuff, such as Novena, recorded on our first album for Som da Gente, Hermeto Pascoal e Grupo:

Here’s a live version of the same tune, recorded as we left the theater in Angers, France in 1984:

Here’s Corridinha, a bandinha tune that was never recorded, live in Angers, France in 1984:

Others were more spacious and adventurous, such as the chamber music piece Vento Vento Vento Vai (recorded live in Angers, France in 1984):

Backstage somewhere: Hermeto on tenor, JSN on piccolo, Carlos Malta (his hand) on soprano

The bandinha leaving the stage in Maceió, Brazil in 1985

…and parading on the street (Maceió, Brazil, 1985)

Backstage at the New Morning, Geneva, 1984

The bandinha marching with children at SESC Pompéia, São Paulo, Brazil, 1985