WTF HAPPENED IN BRAZIL?
In November 2025 I went on a six weeks long trip to Brazil to learn to play pandeiro properly, drink caipirinhas and get a sunburn. Most of my time there was spent in Rio de Janeiro but I also traveled around a bit. Rio de Janeiro is an amazing city surrounded by green mountains, praias while being famously watched and guarded by the Cristo statue. But the most amazing thing with Rio in my opinion, is that it is truly boiling with music. Any day of the week you'll find music happening in any corner of the city. It's impossible not to be inspired here!
The first instrument that WTF released (the Reco Electro) happens to be based on a Brazilian instrument called the reco-reco, so of course I brought some instruments with me to showcase to some of all the millions of percussionists living in Brazil.
I decided to target three of my favourite percussionists to show the instruments to and the first one I managed to meet was Gabriel Policarpo.
Gabriel is mostly known as a virtuous repinique player but also as the founder of the “bloco” Batuqebato (whom I played with in my last trip to Rio in 2023). Gabriel also performs regularly with Maria Bethânia, Martinho Da Vila and Pandeiro Repique Duo (together with Bernardo Aguiar). Apart from being one of the most in demand percussionists today, he is also a searcher for sounds and new timbres which is why I thought he could be a perfect fit for the instruments.
After having watched a performance with Pandeiro Repique Duo I showed the Reco Electro and the Spider Nuts to both Gabriel and Bernardo and they were super excited to receive the instruments and try them out in their home studios, as well as on stage!
The main idea for the Reco Electro from the start, was to use it by scraping it, as done with the Brazilian reco-reco. Now we see it being used mainly by drummers as a “crash stacker” or to play single hits. That's why I also wanted to get someone who really knows how to play the reco reco the traditional way to apply this technique to the Reco Electro.
For this, I immediately thought of my good friend and former teacher Vitor Valladão, one of the most in demand percussionists in the world of “Roda de Samba” while simultaneously holding the chair as the surdo teacher in Batuquebato as well as having founded his own teaching group called Percusamba. Looking forward to seeing what he will create with the Reco Electro!
Last but not least I managed to be invited to the house of the absolute legend Marcos Suzano. Marcos is the founder and creator of the modern pandeiro technique which has inspired hundreds and hundreds of players after him, including myself. Marcos is still super active on the Brazilian music scene and apart from being a top producer of many classic records, he also plays with the Brazilian legend Ney Matogrosso. Marcos has always been an innovator in his field, always looking for new ways to express himself, working with pedals to modify his pandeiro sound etc. That's why I, super excited, went to visit him in his home studio where we spent four hours of sharing music, drinking coffee, trying the WTF instruments and conversing about records he produced. He was super excited over the possibilities about the Reco Electro and immediately started to imagine how he would fit it in his setup. Not to talk about all the ideas he got for using it when producing records!
After all of these meetings and seeing Brazilian musicians react to our version of one of their traditional instruments, I feel super inspired to continue to spread the knowledge about these instruments in this part of the world. I think the Reco Electro has a big potential to fit in a lot of the music styles being played in that part of the world, as long as you have a curious and exploratory mindset.
As Marcos Suzano said when trying out the Reco Electro:
“THIS IS THE RECO RECO OF THE FUTURE!”
Abraços!
/Isidor Abdelkader