HERMOTO Pascoal was born in June 22nd, 1936 in Lagoa da Canoa (Canoe Lake) in Arapiraca, Alagoas, the Brazilian Northeast. He was a child musical prodigy : he started with the flute and at the age of 8 he was already playing sanfona, a button accordeon.

By eleven he was performing at dances and forrós in the region around Arapiraca. When he was fourteen, his family moved to Recife, and Hermeto began to earn money on radio programs there (playing with a group with his brother, Jose Neto). By the end of the 1950s he moved once again, to the south of the country. His voracious musical appetite was already careening, as Hermeto began learning to play almost any instrument he came across: piano, bass, reeds, everything.

Like every musician of the era, he formed bossa nova groups in the early '60s, playing with artists who today have well respected careers, among them Airto Moreira, Heraldo do Monte and Sivuca (with whom he had an accordeon trio called 'O Mundo em Chamas' (World on Fire)).