Recording with Maria Bethânia in 1990

"Tomara"

In 1990, Hermeto Pascoal was approached by Polygram Records to arrange and record one song in an album by Brazilian superstar Maria Bethânia (the younger sister of Caetano Veloso). He was given a cassette with an original song by Alceu Valença, Tomara, and wrote an amazing arrangement for strings and our Grupo (with Carlos Malta on flutes, Itiberê Zwarg on bass, Marcio Bahia on drums and Fabio Pascoal on percussion, plus myself on piano). I was given the task of preparing all parts and conducting the orchestra. If I remember well, we recorded the Grupo and the orchestra on the same day, and Bethânia added her voice later.

The original tune was pretty simple, with a couple of chords and a straightforward Northeastern melody (Alceu Valença is from Pernambuco). Hermeto added a lot of fast moving flute lines, recorded by Carlos Malta on 4 flutes and the Grupo switched gears a lot, with each section having its own groove. It was a joy to play and conduct this masterpiece. Here is the final result:

Thanks for listening!

Enjoy,

Jovino