The Violão Tenor Dinâmico

According to several sources, Garoto (Anibal Augusto Sardinha, 1915-55) introduced the tenor guitar in Brazil. Garoto had acquired a Triolian metal body 4 string tenor guitar similar to the one shown above, manufactured by the American National Instruments company, in 1933, but he was later to use a Brasilian made instrument of the same 'family', for which he is best known from numerous recordings during the 1930s and throughout his career, the Del Vechio tenor dinãmico.

This instrument was manufactured by the luthier Del Vechio of São Paulo from the mid-1930s and represents a modified issue of the American prototype. The biggest difference between the American and the Brasilian instrument is that the Triolian used steel for the body, while the Del Vechio body is made of wood. Both instruments have build in resonator 'cones' instead of the common sound hole, a kind of acoustic amplifying system, which aids in distributing the sound and makes it loud to the benefit of the musician playing in an ensemble of other instruments. The sound of the Del Vechio dinãmico is almost similar to the sound generated by a dobro and instantly recognisable. - Here's a video performance featuring a dobro that gets close to the sound:

Garoto may have been the first to use the Del Vechio tenor dinãmico in recordings and live performance, but he was soon followed by other musicians that would take advantage of the special sound generated by the instrument, a.o. Zé Menezes and Claudionor Cruz. But few professional musicians have devoted their talents entirely to the tenor dinãmico, an exception, however, was Álvaro Brochado. - Álvaro Brochado Hilsdorf (1923-1997) started his career playing violão, bandolim and the tenor banjo, but soon concentrated on the violão tenor and therefore was known as “Álvaro do Violão Tenor”. He worked as a staff musician at local radio stations (Rádio Jornal Primavera and Rádio Clube de Rio Claro), but was soon featured at radio networks in São Paulo and Rio as well after touring Brazil accompanying vocalist Euclides Alves. At one point he met with and became a friend of Garoto, which caused in a curious pact between the two musicians: The first of them to pass away would be honored by the other through a recording. In this way Àlvaro Brochado's first LP, Homenagem a “Garoto”, was initiated and recorded including a choro composition by Brochado paying homage to Garoto, "Exaltação a Garoto". Álvaro Brochado recorded several LPs and a couple of cds during his career, all of them devoted to his prefered instrument, the Del Vechio tenor dinãmico, and the traditional choros and waltzes by renown Brasilian composers besides selfcomposed pieces in the tradition. Learn more from the website dedicated to the legacy of Álvaro do Violão Tenor (- in Portuguese), click here

Unfortunately, none of the recordings by Álvaro Brochado seem to be commercially available today, and I have not found any video material featuring this artist. However, to end this entry I insert a couple of video fragments featuring the Del Vechio tenor dinãmico in action. The first is a re-up from a TV performance featuring a young Alessandro Penezzi with Conjunto Som Brasileiro playing "Numa Seresta", a choro by Luiz Americano

The last video this time is recorded earlier this year at Clube Do Choro De Londrina featuring Robertão ( Violão), Alberto ( Cavaquinho), Cabeção ( Violão Tenor). The music is the well known waltz by Dilermando Reis, "Se Ela Perguntar"

Jo

Danceable Music, Foxtrot Meets Choro

Entertainment has always had a demand for danceable music. 20th Century popular music has tried to connect with this demand creating various and changing dance patterns through different music styles - tango, maxixe, ragtime, charleston and fox-trot, to name but a few. With the introduction of ragtime around 1900 a new craze among the dancing public was born in the US - the originator of classic ragtime, Scott Joplin, was aware of this, one of his compositions, 'The Ragtime Dance - A Ragtime Two-Step' (1902), points to this and moreover has instruction of the appropiate steps included in the score.

The foxtrot is a ballroom dance which is often said to take its name from its inventor, the vaudeville actor Harry Fox; however the exact origins are unclear. At its inception, the foxtrot was originally danced to ragtime. Today, the dance is customarily accompanied by the same big band music to which swing is also danced. Here's a small demonstration of the foxtrot as danced in the 1920s

The foxtrot also reached Brazil and became a part of high society dancing events in the 1920s and even choro musicians had to cope with this new dancing style. It's an interesting fact that renown choro musicians like João Pernambuco actually made compositions that were labeled as 'foxtrot' - his 'Rosa Carioca' (recorded 1929) documents this. The tune as played by João Pernambuco accompanied by Zezinho is available during Fabio Zanon's program devoted to the music of João Pernambuco at Rádio Cultura, to be reached here

Another choro guitarist, Rogério Guimarães, also was inspired by the foxtrot and recorded his composition 'Uma noite na Urca' 1928 for Odeon, labeled as foxtrot. You can hear the music in streaming audio from Instituto Moreira Salles by clicking here

The foxtrot seems to have a long tradition among choro musicians, in 1955 Abel Ferraira recorded a choro , 'Acariciando', played in the danceable foxtrot style, you may listen to the audio by clicking here

To end this small entry, here's an entertaining vue of some of the various dances that emerged during 'The Roaring Twenties' - enjoy!

Jo

Choro Day

Next week the official Choro Day ( 23. April) will be celebrated all over Brazil and in other parts of the world, where choro is an integrated musical tradition of cultural events. Choro Day is also the celebration of Pixinguinha, the 23. April this year we'll commemorate the fact that it is Pixinguinha's 112th birthday. I suggest and encourage readers of this blog to look up info in the local media about events according Choro Day in your area. Unfortunately, none have been arranged at my place, but instead I found some video fragments at YouTube to get into the right mood for celebrating Choro Day and the music of Pixinguinha.

From a TV program I found a fragment featuring Déo Rian and Época de Ouro playing a couple of well known Pixinguinha compositions - the program is hosted by Paulinho da Viola and probably is recorded late 1960s or early 1970s

From a performance at the Villagio Café-SP last year here is a fragment featuring Danilo Brito (bandolim), Alessandro Penezzi (violão), Proveta (sax) a.o. playing Pixinguinha's 'Cochichando'

Finally, here's the historical video fragment featuring Pixinguinha himself accompanied by unidentified conjunto playing 'Carinhoso' - enjoy!

Jo

Lingua de Preto

One of the first recordings by Garoto that fascinated me was his 1949 recording of the classic choro 'Lingua de preto' composed by Honorino Lopes (1884-1909). The composer, Honorino Lopes, is rather unknown, he died 25 years old from tuberculosis, but is remembered for this particular choro that remains a part of the choro standard repertoire. Jacob do Bandolim as well as Benedito Lacerdo accompanied by Pixinguinha also recorded the tune in 1949. The choro was recorded for the first time between 1907 and 1912 by the Banda da Força Policial do Estado de São Paulo for the Odeon label and again in 1913 by the Banda da Casa Edison. None of these first recordings are available in the online discoteque at Instituto Moreia Salles. However, if you click your right mouse button, you have the opportunity to listen to the streaming audio of the mentioned recording by Garoto of 'Lingua de preto' here

As demonstrated in the streaming audio, Garoto plays the solo voice on violão tenor. Jacob do Bandolim's rendition features the bandolim as solo voice, of course. You may listen to the 1949 recording by Jacob do Bandolim using the same procedure as mentioned above clicking here

Here's a contemporary reading of 'Lingua de preto' performed by a choro ensemble from the conservatory of Pernambuco, cavaquinho is playing lead

Finally, from a roda de choro recently at the Bandolim de Ouro music shop in Rio da Janeiro featuring Bruno Rian playing the solo on bandolim

Jo

Choro & Ragtime

Ragtime is an American music style that emerged at around the same time as choro during the late decades of the XIX. Century. There are obvious similarities between ragtime and choro, both music styles draw from European music tradition and blend with Afro rhythm into a characteristic syncopated music form that evolved in two parallel directions. Musicologists have been aware of the similarities (- and differences) between ragtime and choro for quite some time, but just recently an attempt has been made to bring the two music traditions together.

The good people at ChoroMusic.com, headed by flutist Daniel Dalarossa, have prepared yet another interesting project, this time focusing on choro and ragtime. According to the extensive notes at the website of ChoroMusic.com the aim of the project has been to let a choro ensemble play typical ragtime pieces using the instruments commonly featured in a traditional choro group and adding choro rythm and improvisation to the music performed. I was pointed to the recorded music by a friend, who has downloaded the recorded 10 pieces offered for purchase at the ChoroMusic.com website, which also offers the written scores to be used by musicians who would like to learn and play along. The recorded ragtime pieces are played once as intended by the composer, second time through improvisation is added, generally spoken. The result is marvellous, if you like ragtime, the 'special touch' added by competent choro players brings a sparkling new life into both well known compositions by Scott Joplin as well as other ragtime composers. Even though you are not a musician, I recommend these joyful renditions of classic ragtime. Learn more about the participating musicians, scores and recorded music for purchase at ChoroMusic.com, click here

Scott Joplin (1868-1917) is generally recognised as one of the originators of the classic ragtime style, his compositions for piano - like the shown 'Maple Leaf Rag' (1899) - were popular in the US around 1900, the score of 'Maple Leaf Rag' sold in more than one million copies. The piano was the favoured instrument for home entertainment, thus, written scores for piano of popular music were in high demand. Recordings of original ragtime played by pianists were scarce as recording fascilities (- most often cylinders were used) prevented pianists to participate. Instead pianists were forced to rely on the reading abilities of other pianists to spread their compositions, although some of them also cut piano rolls to be used by mechanical player pianos. The mechanical sound of a player piano roll may have caused the deminising interest in ragtime, when recording possibilites became better through the phonogram discs. Anyway, it's a fact that ragtime had its heyday from 1900 to 1917, World War I seems to have moved the general interest in ragtime into other directions. There was a short revival during the 1950s thanks to a relived interest in dixieland jazz and its origins in ragtime, but it was not until the early 1970s a new craze for ragtime evolved, thanks to a very popular movie from 1972, 'The Sting', that featured soundtrack music of compositions by Scott Joplin, including notable ragtime pieces like 'The Entertainer', 'The Easy Winners' a.o.

Given the fact that most of classic ragtime is composed with the aim of being played by a piano it may seem a bit strange to have a string or wind ensemble playing the music. But as it happened with the compositions written by Ernesto Nazareth, string ensembles or even brass bands soon started playing this kind of popular music. In original recorded ragtime you'll find examples of full brass bands playing 'Maple Leaf Rag' and other Joplin pieces, but the most interesting renditions are those applied by banjo players accompanied by a piano or small string ensemble. The banjo was a novelty instrument at the time when ragtime emerged, and this fact may seem to be a part of the reason for quite a lot of recorded banjo ragtime from the heyday of the genre. Virtuosi like Vess Ossman and Fred van Eps (see picture) set the standard in this very demanding branch of playing the banjo, today only few people seem to have an interest in carrying on the torch. However, here's one, who gives it a fair try:



As it happend with choro also ragtime was absorbed by all sorts of musicians, erudite as well as self taught, during the process both musical forms evolved in different directions. Choro luckily survived and left a legacy of wonderful music kept alive to this day by devoted individuals. Ragtime has had its ups and downs, but maybe a new era is in sight thanks to ensembles like the one viewed here:

If you have become interested in listening to string ragtime, you may have an opportunity to join an event during August this year. The first Danish Folk, Blues & Ragtime Guitar Festival is scheduled from August 5h to 7th and features great string ragtime performes. Learn more from the festival's official website, click here

Jo