Jackson Do Pandeiro

Jackson do Pandeiro ranks among the most inventive Brazilian percussionists and vocalists on record, and without question the most far-reaching, for he joined forces with Luís Gonzaga to carry Northeastern Brazilian music to every corner of the nation. Across his lifetime he produced enduring successes that artists still revive, among them the arrasta-pé “Casaca de Couro,” the xamego “Forró na Gafieira,” the baião “A Cantiga do Sapo,” the cocos “O Falso Toureiro” and “Cajueiro,” plus “Meu Enxoval” (co-authored with Gordurinha), “17 Na Corrente,” “Coco do Norte,” “O Velho Gagá,” “Vou Ter Um Troço,” “Sebastiana,” “O Canto da Ema,” and “Chiclete com Banana.” A pivotal figure within the Brazilian popular music lineage, he later drew acclaim from an expansive roster of present-day performers that stretches from Lenine to David Byrne, who produced the album Forró Etc. Yet during his active years Jackson never achieved the volume of sales measured by contemporary standards, never mounted international tours, and never enjoyed the aura that surrounds current stars. Recognition of his stature therefore surfaced only in more recent times, spurred largely by renewed attention to Tropicália’s roots in earlier Brazilian culture; Gilberto Gil cut “O Canto da Ema” (D. Aires Viana/Alventino Cavalcanti/João do Vale) and “Chiclete com Banana” (Gordurinha), while Gal Costa recorded “Sebastiana.” Since that resurgence his catalog has been revisited by Alceu Valença, Chico Buarque, Tom Zé, Elba Ramalho, João Bosco, Geraldo Azevedo, Genival Lacerda, Zé Ramalho, Leila Pinheiro, Paralamas do Sucesso, Cascabulho, Chico César, and additional interpreters.

The taut syncopation arising from the marriage of his voice and his constant pandeiro—an instrument descended from the Afro-Brazilian coco tradition of Alagoas—made his transition to urban music of the Southeast feel inevitable, whether Rio sambas or Carnival sambas. As early as the mid-1950s he transported the quick-witted verses and melodies of Northeastern cantadores from country fairs onto Carioca radio and television, infusing those broadcasts with spontaneous humor; the packed houses that attended his appearances on popular auditorium programs such as Programa César de Alencar on Rádio Nacional responded with immediate enthusiasm, generating hit after hit. Simultaneously he became the first artist to fuse Carioca malandragem with the buoyant pulse of Northeastern cocos and emboladas, the latter an older poetic form performed solely to pandeiro accompaniment.

Born to Flora Mourão, a vocalist steeped in the regional folkloric coco repertoire, Jackson received his childhood nickname “Jack” from her because of his resemblance to actor Jack Perry; he later adopted the professional handle Jackson do Pandeiro. He began his musical path by playing zabumba behind his mother. After enduring childhood poverty as a farm laborer and youthful stints as a baker and then a drummer in João Pessoa nightspots, he secured a position in the early 1950s at Rádio Jornal do Comércio in Recife. There, on the newly launched station, he took the name Zé do Pandeiro (soon changed to Jackson do Pandeiro), cut his debut 78 rpm single, and scored his first success with the xote “Sebastiana” (Rosil Cavalcanti), with whom he formed a duo at the time. That track already displayed the rhythmic and stylistic liberties rooted in improvisation that he was introducing inside traditional Northeastern forms. While performing cocos drawn largely from his mother’s repertory he gained regional notice, releasing several LPs that reached listeners as far away as Rio de Janeiro; one such release, the rojão “Forró no Limoeiro,” generated sufficient income for him and Almira to travel to the federal capital. After meeting the amateur singer and dancer Almira Castilhos de Albuquerque, he formed the duo Jackson do Pandeiro e Almira.

Almira exerted a decisive influence on his life, teaching him to sign his own name. Her expressive dancing and his commanding abilities as singer, percussionist, and showman quickly won favor, prompting their move to Rio de Janeiro in 1954. In the city Jackson met in person the Carioca journalists who had already praised his work in print. The duo’s first Rio release was the 1954 compilation Sua Majestade O Rei do Ritmo, which gathered earlier singles that mixed Northeastern rhythms—the rojão, the coco alagoano, the xote, and the batuque nordestino—with Carioca samba.

They returned to João Pessoa and married in October of that year, yet local audiences proved cooler. After recording “Xote de Copacabana,” a tribute to Rio, the pair relocated there again in 1955 and remained. Jackson performed on the Tupi and Mayrink Veiga stations and was eventually hired by Nacional; in São Paulo he appeared at clubs and on Record, Nacional, and Bandeirantes. Throughout the 1950s the duo’s popularity led to roles in several films, including Minha Sogra é Da Polícia, Cala a Boca Etevilna, Tira a Mão Daí (which also featured Ângela Maria, Virgínia Lane, Linda Batista, and Dircinha Batista), and Batedor de Carteiras. Until the partnership dissolved in 1967 with the end of their marriage, they were accompanied by the Pau de Arara trio, later renamed Trio Borborema.

Heartened by market response, Jackson began issuing successful Carnaval marches such as “Mão na Toca,” “Intenção,” “Vou Gargalhar” (Edgar Ferreira, 1955), “Boi da Cara Preta” (Paquito/Romeu Gentil/José Gomes, 1956), “O Velho Gagá” (Almira Castilhos/Paulo Gracindo, 1961), and the leading Carnival hit of 1962, “Me Segura Que Eu Vou Dar Um Troço” (Jackson/Arnô Provenzano/Otolindo Lopes).

Jackson enjoyed his greatest visibility from the mid-1950s through the late 1960s, the span of his duo with Almira. With the arrival of Jovem Guarda and the broader surge of youth-oriented music in the 1960s, his opportunities contracted; the duo and the marriage both ended in 1967. Only in 1972 did broader acknowledgment arrive, when Gilberto Gil rerecorded “Chiclete com Banana”—a lyric rich in references that would later resonate with Tropicália—on the album Expresso 2222. The title track itself reveals Jackson’s lasting imprint on vocal and rhythmic phrasing. Gil subsequently rerecorded “O Canto da Ema” and “A Cantiga do Sapo,” and Gal Costa rerecorded “Sebastiana.” Also in 1972 Alceu Valença invited Jackson to share vocals on “Papagaio do Futuro.” The collaboration rekindled the master of the coco, who resumed recording and touring across Brazil, albeit chiefly at the festas juninas and their seasonal marchas juninas repertoire.

After another decade of steady but diminished activity, Jackson died shortly after completing a performance. One year later a São Paulo tribute concert titled 30 Anos de Rojão honored his legacy, featuring Zé Kéti, Odair Cabeça de Poeta, Paulinho Boca de Cantor, Edgar Ferreira, and others. In 1997 the Sharp Awards ceremony included a further homage to his contributions.