“The Brazilian Rhythm Machine.” Option. September/October 1989.

[Excerpt]

Nana proudly refers to himself as an ethnic of folk musician, although ironically he identifies Jimi Hendrix as one of his seminal influences. Because Nana was not a Bahian, he says, he was freer to explore the use of the berimbau in modes other than the ritualistic realm of capoeira, but it was not until he first heard Hendrix in the late sixties that he perceived the diversity of harmonic possibilities inherent in the instrument. “I listened to Hendrix,” he says, “playing guitar, using feedback, and I thought I can do that with the berimbau.” Nana began to explore similar techniques with other Brazilian percussion instruments and with his own voice, and eventually used the cuica to play an extraordinary blues duet with B.B. King.