Tribute to Nana
Nana Vasconcelos was a Brazilian percussionist, vocalist and berimbau player, notable for his work as a solo artist on over two dozen albums, and as a backing musician with Pat Metheny, Don Cherry, Jan Garbarek, Egberto Gismonti, Gato Barbieri, and Milton Nascimento.
He was a master of the single-string percussion instrument known in Portuguese as the berimbao. Among others the American jazz magazine DownBeat named Vasconcelos percussionist of the year every year from 1983 to 1991.
Pat Metteheny wrote RIP Nana – It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of percussion great Nana Vasconcelos.
Nana played a significant role in Pats music over the course of a few important records and a lot of touring in the early 1980s. Says Pat In addition to being one of the best percussionists in this music, Nana was also an amazing, wonderful person. Everywhere he went (berimbau always nestled on his shoulder) he made friends and brought an infectious joy to the people around him. His laugh was contagious and his ability to bring happiness to any situation spilled over to the bandstand. And what an incredible musician. As I moved towards using more and more electricity in the music, I really felt it was important to balance that with natural sound and Nana was able to offer that in a perfect way; including the way he used his voice. We will all really miss Nana!