ALL A POLYPHONIC 10-STRING BANDOLIM CAN DO

A master of the Brazilian bandolim, Hamilton de Holanda is determined to show the world what the instrument can do.

De Hollanda plays an instrument called the bandolim. It evolved from the mandolin, brought to Brazil by Portuguese colonizers, and its acknowledged master was a man named Jacob do Bandolim. De Holanda says do Bandolim's genius lay in his ability to blend music brought by the Portuguese with that of African slaves to create a perfect balance.

"He created a Brazilian way, with a lot of emotion," he says. "You hear in his music a little bit of the fado nostalgia, but also the joy of Brazilian music, and African music too — and with such care in the refinement of a sound and the arrangements."

Normally, the instrument has eight strings, just like the mandolin. De Holanda had one built with 10 strings. "I wanted to create a polyphony in my instrument, and be able to play the melody, the accompaniment and the rhythm, all at the same time," he says. "Just as you see in a piano soloist or a guitar soloist, I wanted to express some polyphonic ideas in the bandolim — the same way a piano works in a jazz trio."



SOURCE: LEHIGH VALLEY COMMUNITY PUBLIC RADIO

MUSIC AS PART OF THE BRAZILIAN SOUL

No, this is NOT Santa Claus

This is Hermeto Pascoal, an albino, one of Brazil's most eccentric, prolific and treasured composers and musicians, and a man once described by Miles Davis as "one of the most important musicians on the planet". A virtuoso pianist, accordionist and flautist, Pascoal has long preferred rather more unconventional ways of producing sounds and songs: napkins, carpets, chairs, pints of beer, body parts, kitchen utensils, animals even. A pig, famously, features on a 1977 album. 

Pinning down Pascoal's musical style is equally complex. He rejects the terms jazz, Brazilian popular music (MPB), bossa nova, chorinho or forro, all of which are elements in his shows and recordings.

"It's not a fad. I don't like labels. But the only thing I can accept as a label is musica universal. Brazil is the country with the greatest number of peoples from around the world. So the world is Brazil. Brazil has the whole world here. So why shouldn't we be home to the music of the world?".

Pascoal  made a rare appearance at the Barbican in London last November .He was joined on stage by two other heavyweights of Brazilian music, the harmonica player Gabriel Grossi and the mandolinist Hamilton de Holanda. Two of the most exciting young proponents of a new generation of Brazilian musicians, Pascoal calls them the "new gang". 

Excerpts: Tom Phillips

             guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 November 2011 22.30 GMT

You can listen to some of his compositions and download them here: http://www.hermetopascoal.com.br/downloads.asp#