In Memoriam Jacob

Next week choro societies and choro musicians in Brazil and the rest of the world will commemorate the sad fact that it is 40 years since the passing away of Jacob Pick Bittencourt, aka Jacob do Bandolim (February 14, 1918 – August 13, 1969). Like Pixinguiha, Jacob do Bandolim has become an icon in the field of choro representing the best in this Brazilian music tradition. Jacob's achievements as a musician, composer and spokesman in favour of the virtues of the original music tradition in Brazil, notable the choro, are beyond the possibility of describing justly in a few words here. If you are new to choro and the tradition of this important musical field of Brazilian culture, one of the main figures representing these aspects in headlines certainly will be Jacob do Bandolim. A short biography and career profile is available by clicking here .

For extensive and detailed information on the legacy of Jacob do Bandolim I'll point serious readers to the website of Instituto Jacob do Bandolim that has maintained a magnificent work to preserve and inform about all relevant issues regarding Jacob (- in Portuguese only, unfortunately). - Another Brazilian resource web, Músicos do Brasil, also has detailed and relevant info on Jacob do Bandolim.

The obvious way to commemorate an artist like Jacob do Bandolim is to play his music, of course. I found an uploaded video at YouTube showing still photos from the life and career of Jacob, the accompanying sound track includes Jacob's voice and the title track audio of his best selling album, "Vibrações" from 1967, featuring Jacob and Época do Ouro

Since Jacob's passing away choro has had a great revival in Brazil and countless musicians have refined their skills and drawn inspiration from the music of Jacob do Bandolim. Below I'll insert a couple of video fragments showing that the legacy of Jacob lives on and is taken good care of by devoted musicians. - First, here's a rendition of the choro "Diabinho Maluco" perfomed by Joel Nascimento - Bandolim; Maurício Carrilho - Violão 6 Cordas; Luiz Otávio Braga - Violão 7 Cordas; Jayme Moraes - Cavaquinho from a Brazilian TV program paying tribute to Jacob do Bandolim (- probably from the mid-1970s)

The most famous composition by Jacob do Bandolim probably is his "Noites Cariocas", here performed by Hamilton de Holanda (bandolim) from a live recording at Radio America recently

One of the great achievements by Jacob was to put the bandolim into the spotlight as a solo voice in choro, his recordings point listeners to the high level of performance demanded from both the soloist and the accompanying musicians. However, performers of other instruments than the bandolim also have drawn inspiration from the playing of Jacob. Here's an example of the young virtuoso of the violão, Alessandro Penezzi, performing Jacob's "Velhos Tempos" in great interplay with arranger and pianist, Laércio de Freitas, from a TV hommage to Jacob do Bandolim

Finally, as an amateur guitarist I was thrilled to view a solo guitar interpretation of Jacob's "Noites Cariocas" by Daniel Nikolas Wirtz from a live performance, a great arrangement and execution of the tune to end this small commemoration of Jacob do Bandolim

Jo

Guitar Works Of Garoto

Towards the end of his career and short life Garoto (Anibal Augusto Sardinha, 1915-55) devoted his talents to composing music for the solo violão in between other works. Luckily, this material as performed by the artist himself has been documented through the private recordings made by Garoto's friend and admirer, Ronoel Simões, finally available on a cd issued 2006 by the German Chanterelle company (CHR 006) containing all of the recordings made between 1950 and 1954. You can read more about the cd here

In 1991 a cd by classical guitarist Paulo Bellinati was issued by the American GSP Recordings containing the guitar works of Garoto (GSP 1002), transcribed and performed by Bellinati in a most convincing production, highly recommended. The cd and the the transcription scores are still available from GSP Recordings and online retailers.

The guitar works of Garoto may be considered semi-classical contributions and have especially appealed to classical trained musicians thanks to the transcriptions in written music made available by Paulo Bellinati. I found some examples at YouTube documenting the fact that Garoto's guitar works are taken good care of and performed with due respect to Bellinati's transcriptions by classical guitarist Denian Arcoleo. Learn more about Denian Arcoleo from his official website, click here

The first example of Denian Arcoleo performing is Garoto's "Tristezas de um Violão", also known as Choro Triste No. 1



The next video features Deinian Arcoleo performing Garoto's "Meditação"



Finally, the last video this time has Denian Arcoleo performing Garoto's waltz "Naqueles Velhos Tempos" - enjoy!

Jo

Choro da Saudade - A Popular Classic

The Paraguayan composer and guitar virtuoso, Augustin Barrios Mangoré (1885-1944), is considered by many to be one of the greatist composers of 20th Century Latin America, although his works (- more than 300 compositions in various genres) only gained world famous recognition decades after his passing away. Thanks to the highly estimated English guitarist, John Williams, the guitar music compositions of Barrios finally were saved from oblivion and a selection of these were recorded by Williams in the mid-1970s. The record was issued by CBS and became a huge success with the public and established Barrios' name a place among the composers of the canon of classical guitar music repertoire. One of the compositions by Barrios recorded by John Williams was 'Choro da Saudade'. I found a video performance dated 1976 featuring Williams playing 'Choro da Saudade'



The composition is a choro, of course, the structure of the music has the form of a rondo - A, B, A, C, B, A. Note the main theme, A, keeps coming back to haunt, as in the feelings of yearning or lament. “Saudade” is a hard word to translate into English, it refers to nostalgia, or feelings of yearning, such as in homesickness - the inspiration expressed in the A-part. The first time the work was featured in a concert programme of Barrios was dated November 1929. The manuscript was written out by Barrios in 1929, dedicated to Americo Camargo, the son of a good friend who had died tragicly young. - The composition is notorious among guitarists for it’s long left hand stretches, many finding impossible to play. It may be that this piece is the first example of the hinge barre being used in classical guitar music. This is where the left hand barre stretches across the strings, but instead of being across fret one, the tip of the finger reaches to fret two. Thus enabling the hand to reach to higher positions. (info excerpted from article by Mark Antony at Guitar World )

Since John Williams recorded the piece in 1976 'Choro da Saudade' has become a challenging composition of the classical standard guitar book, as mentioned. You'll find various examples uploaded at YouTube of performances of the piece, some of them differ in interpretation of tempo and execution - not all classical trained guitarists have the same conception of the music. Anyway, to end this small contribution about this famous guitar composition I'll insert a video performance by a Brasilian artist - João Rabello, son of Paulinho da Viola, grandson of Cesar Faria and his uncle being the late Raphael Rabello. Learn more about João Rabello at his official web (- in Portuguese and English), click here

From a TV-program João Rabello performs "Choro da Saudade" - enjoy!

Jo

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