Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Pascoal Wins WOMEX Award
Indomitable Brazilian icon recognised for his remarkable creativity and seismic musical influence
Composer, arranger, bandleader and multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal has been revealed as the recipient of the WOMEX 24 Artist Award in acknowledgment of his uncompromising musical vision and prolific works which have inspired future generations and left an indelible mark on world music, jazz and beyond.
The man many call O Bruxo (the Wizard), and whom Miles Davis dubbed “one of the most import musicians on the planet,” began his career in 1950, aged 14, and has gone on to forge a wonderfully kaleidoscopic canon, drawing on traditional Brazilian styles, such as forro and bossa nova, as well as jazz and the avant-garde, with more than 10,000 compositions and several hundred albums released during a tirelessly questing 74-year career.
With a plethora of awards, accolades and honorary doctorates already to his name, Pascoal’s deeply personal sound continues to resonate around the world, ennobling him with living legend status in his native Brazil.
Meanwhile, the WOMEX 24 Professional Excellence Award went to In Place Of War (IPOW), the international organisation celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, which uses art as a means to make lasting differences to peoples and communities affected by conflict across the world.
WOMEX 2024 is taking place in Manchester on October 23-27. For more information visit www.womex.com
