Arcos Brasileiros

Vanille Goovaerts and Ricardo Herz

Arcos Brasileiros It is the debut album from the duo formed by Vanille Goovaerts and Ricardo Herz, dedicated to the encounter between the Brazilian folk violin and the rabeca (traditional Brazilian fiddle).
The record is the fruit of years of artistic collaboration, joint research, travels, compositions, original arrangements, and experimentation with bowed instruments in Brazil.

With 19 tracks, the album features compositions by Ricardo Herz and Vanille Goovaerts, as well as a reinterpretation of a piece by Odeon, Ernesto Nazareth.
The repertoire spans Brazilian rhythms and musical languages—such as forró, choro, baião, frevo, maracatu, xote, ijexá, boi, and capoeira—creating a sound that is at once chamber-music-like, popular, and deeply Brazilian.

The project places the violin and rabeca on equal footing, bridging oral tradition, musical notation, improvisation, and instrumental research.
The album’s soundscape was designed to mirror a live performance—with Vanille on the right and Ricardo on the left—highlighting the dialogue between their closely related timbres.

Listen to the album:
Spotify / Deezer / Apple Music / YouTube Music / other platforms

Project website:
https://www.arcosbrasileiros.com/

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“Arcos Brasileiros” is the result of over two decades of individual research by Ricardo Herz and seven years of collaboration, exchange, travel, and creative work as a duo with Vanille Goovaerts.
For Ricardo, this is his 12th album, dedicated entirely to Brazilian music.

The record encapsulates the artistic and personal partnership between the two musicians.
The arrangements are all original, and the repertoire brings together new and old compositions by Ricardo Herz, alongside new works by Vanille Goovaerts inspired by her connection to Pernambuco, the rabeca (folk fiddle), forró, and frevo.

The title Arcos Brasileiros stems from a desire to highlight the element shared by the violin and the rabeca: the bow.
Rather than separating the instruments, the project seeks to bring them closer together, revealing the bow as a voice, a breath, a drone, and a bellows—a meeting point between tradition, invention, and Brazilian popular music.

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Credits

Concept, violins, rabecas and compositions: Vanille Goovaerts and Ricardo Herz
Audio — recording, mixing and mastering: Daniel Tápia
Photos: Carmen Fernandez
Videos: Gabriel Boieras
Graphic design: Bel Andrade Lima
Executive production: Marina Herz / Herz Produções
Record label: Herz Produções
Digital distribution: Tratore