In 2016, Sérgio began a series of projects with his daughter Clarice. The first was the album Relíquia. In 2019, they released Archetypes in collaboration with the American group Third Coast Percussion, a project that received two Grammy nominations. Although Sérgio and Clarice had performed together on various occasions—whether with the family or alongside Odair—starting in 2017 they began formally performing as a duo.
When the COVID-19 pandemic spread worldwide and social isolation was imposed, they launched the Side by Side project, recorded remotely and featuring guests such as guitarists David Russell, Elodie Bouny, and Marc Teicholz, among others.
In that same period, Sérgio led other collaborative projects. In partnership with the Virtual Guitar Orchestra, he composed works specifically for the collective, beginning with “Kaleidokithara,” a video featuring 27 soloists and 144 guitarists from different countries. The success was followed by “Scient, Safe and Sane,” a production involving 200 participants from
over 40 countries—including 30 renowned guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, and 168 guitarists, all sending recordings made at home.
The third project, released in 2021, was even larger and featured the special participation of Yo-Yo Ma. About the work, Sérgio commented: “Music has the power to cross physical, social, and cultural barriers. With that spirit, I composed ‘The Walls,’ a piece that laments human divisions and dreams of a future without walls.”
“The Walls” brought together 62 soloists, including Sérgio, Odair, Clarice (on bass), and Badi, celebrating a great union of musicians from many parts of the world.
It was also during this phase that Odair immersed himself in preparing and recording his third solo album, “The Last Song”. In the repertoire, he included two works that, in some way, dialogue with the memory of their parents: “The Last Song”, by Clarice Assad, and “The Old Friend”, composed by Kevin Callahan and dedicated to Seu Jorge—who passed away in 2011 and would have turned 100 in 2024, the year Dona Ica left us.
