Percussionist Naná Vasconcelos dies aged 71

After battling a lung cancer for seven months, Brazil's world-famous percussionist Naná Vasconcelos died from a respiratory arrest on Wednesday (Mar. 9), aged 71 years old. He had been in hospital since February 29th.

Naná Vasconcelos was diagnosed with cancer last year and spent more than 20 days in hospital for treatment. After that he had chemotherapy and despite his poor health condition he produced one last album alongside Zeca Baleiro and Paulo Lepetit, called Café no Bule.

In February, he was able to make his last Carnival appearance in Pernambuco. As he has done for the past 15 years, Naná Vasconcelos opened the festivities in Recife, leading hundreds of percussionists.

World best

Juvenal de Holanda Vasconcelos, a.k.a. Naná Vasconcelos, was born in Recife, Pernambuco, on August 2, 1944. He inherited his taste for art from his father, also a musician. Naná was performing live at bars and joining local percussion groups as early as 12 years old.

He first learned to play a drum kit. Then he moved on to berimbau, the trademark African-Brazilian musical bow. Throughout his career, he became famous for tapping any object that could give out interesting sounds for his music.

Naná rose to national prominence after he moved to Rio de Janeiro in the 1960's and played with Minas Gerais's Milton Nascimento and fellow Pernambuco musician Geraldo Azevedo.

He then made a career abroad, living in the United States and in France, writing film soundtracks and winning eight Grammy Awards.

Recognized as the world's best percussionist by US DownBeat magazine eight times, Naná Vasconcelos also had collaborations with such artists as B. B. King and Ella Fitzgerald.

Having learned all his musical skills informally—he never went to college—he was awarded a doctor honoris causa degree from the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE) in December 2015.

Translated by Mayra Borges