More info, see www.marcoruviaro.com/Jo
Desvairada
Garoto (Anibal Augusto Sardinha, 1915-55) was a multi-talented musician playing various fretted instruments: banjo, cavaquinho, bandolim, violão, violão tenor and hawaiian guitar contributing on numerous recordings with his always elegant fretwork both as accompaniment and as a soloist. He also composed several pieces for the various fretted instuments he mastered, among his compositions, however, a single one stands out as an example of his deep roots in the choro tradition - the valse-choro "Desvairada" (- meaning 'wild' in English). "Desvairada" is a three part valse-choro played in 6/8 and has the form: ABBACCA, the piece containing several examples of appegios in double timing, very intricate to master. Garoto recorded the piece in 1950 for Odeon on a 78 rpm playing the bandolim, a video at YouTube has the originalaudio as soundtrack to still photography -
"Desvairada" has since become a touchstone for choro instrumentists to master, especially among guitarists allthough the piece originally was designated for the bandolim according to the recording by Garoto himself (- he never recorded "Desvairada" playing the violão, only the inserted audio above by Garoto is available). You may also listen to the original recording by Garoto in streaming audio at Instituto Moreira Sales or from the compilation cd shown below
As said, "Desvairada" has become a touchstone for choro guitarists, one of the first guitarists to cut his teeth on the composition transcribed for guitar was Raphael Rabello, who recorded the piece in a duo set-up together with Radamés Gnatalli on the shown cd below
Raphael Rabello also recorded "Desvairada" in a duet with Dino Sete Cordas and he always had the tune as part of his standard book in live-performance, here's a magnificent example of Raphael Rabello playing "Desvairada" in an informal and private settingIn 1991 Paulo Bellinati recorded a cd devoted to the guitar works of Garoto, among the 24 pieces transcribed for guitar by Bellinati also was a recording of "Desvairada", probably the best known interpretation of the piece copied by numerous guitarists ever since with the guidance of Bellinati's published score. At YouTube you can watch several videos featuring various guitarists struggling to master the piece, one of my own favorite videos has Yamandú Costa playing the piece in a near to impossible version, here documented from a live-tv spot
To end this small entry on a famous tune, I insert a video from a live-performance featuring Alessandro Penezzi (violão), Daniel Brito (bandolim) and Rogério Caetano (violão sete cordas) playing "Desvairada" in a trio setting, from a tribute concert to Raphael Rabello - enjoy!
Jo
CARAIVANA!
Last year Rio de Janeiro officially was elected the host city of the 2016 Olympic Games, the event took place in Copenhagen and the picture above shows a snap-shot of the enthusiasm of the Brasilian delegation when the result was announced. The large Brasilian delegation was headed by the president of the nation - the popular Mr. Lula - and representatives and officials of the Brasilian sport games, among these people the worldfamous football icon, Mr. Pelé, also participated. The Brasilians had made proper preparations for the victory of Rio de Janeiro as host city of the 2016 Olympic Games in competition with the city of Chicago, thus, the delegation also consisted of a band of musicians to support the spirit of the enthusiastic delegates and to help celebrating the supposed victory. When the vote result of the Olympic Committee was announced, these musicians naturally participated in the event and during the celebration festivites afterwards a group photo featuring president Lula fronting the six members of the band was shot, acknowlegding the importance of music as the heart and soul of Brasilian culture, I suppose.
The six band members - here fronted by president Lula and the two ladies - were officially chosen to represent the best of Brasilian music in Copenhagen during the crucial week before the choice of the host city for the 2016 Olympic Games. The name of the band is CARAIVANA and the six members of the ensemble, coming from different Brasilian cities, met in 2005 while on holiday in a small village in southern Bahia and became friends. Before they met in the Bahian coast, CARAIVANA's members were already renowned individually. Douglas Lora, from São Paulo, is a songwriter and guitarist. Dudu Maia , from Brasilia, bandolinist, has been standing out in Brazil and abroad as a performer, composer, arranger and producer. Alexandre Lora , also from São Paulo as his brother, is a percussionist and drummer. Alex Souza, from Brasilia, is an actor, singer, songwriter and guitarist. Fabio Luna , from Rio de Janeiro, is a flautist, percussionist, composer and performer. Juninho Billy Joe , from Bahia, is a singer, percussionist and composer. As mentioned, these musicians met in 2005 and soon they all developed a great friendship and understanding between them, and as the game started to get serious, French producer Daniel Vangarde invited them to record a cd, shown below.
The cd offers different rhythms such as samba, choro and forró. Jacob do Bandolin, Edu Lobo, Noel Rosa, Sivuca and Gonzaguinha are some of the composers chosen to form this mosaic, which also includes Pixinguinha and Ary Barroso. Tracklist and more info about the music including streaming audio to be found at the official website of CARAIVANA, accessible here - Below I'll insert a couple of the uploaded videos made at the presentation concert of the cd in Rio de Janeiro to give you an impression of the magnificent music included on the cd. - Here is first a live performance of 'Tico-tico no fúba'From the same live-performance, here is a rendition of Noel Rosa's 'Conversa de Botequim'
Finally, to end this small presentation of CARAIVANA, here's a live-performance of the forró 'Cabaceira mon amour' - enjoy!
I recommend a visit at the official website of CARAIVANA to get more info about the group and the activities it has participated in so far, including great photos and video material - also from the Copenhagen event.
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Feliz Natal & Feliz Ano Novo 2011/ A Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year 2011!
Jo
Maxixe
The emergence and development of choro in the late 19th century was affected by three forms of Brasilian popular music: the modinha, the lundu, and the maxixe. The lundu, an early song and dance genre, and the maxixe, an instrumental dance form that arose concurrently with choro, exhibit African influences. The wildly popular maxixe made an especially strong impression with its close couples dance style and sinuous movements. From its emergence in the late 1870s to its decline in the 1920s, few genres of popular music were as wildly popular, and controversial, as the maxixe. The music accompanies a fast paced couples dance in which the dancers' bodies are pressed together and the legs are often intertwined. - Here's a contemporary performance of the maxixe dancingThe habanera rhythm is a characteristic feature in the music accompanying the maxixe dancing, the music accompaniment in the video above is Chiquinha Gonzaga's "Corta jaca" - the original recording of the piece by Grupo Chiquinha Gonzaga from 1908 is available at Instituto Moreira Sales and may be accessed by clicking here. - The other important precursor to the maxixe was the polka, which arrived in Rio de Jaineiro in the 1840s. Structurally, the maxixe is similar to the polka, however, the maxixe is distinguinshed from the polka by its rhythm and fast tempo, a strong bass line on the beat and syncopation is common.
Few popular dances caused as much moral outrage as the maxixe. Shortly after it took the dance clubs of Rio de Janeiro with storm, it was publicly condemned as a lower-class, vulgar, and lascivious dance that took place in halls frequented by loose women and unscrupulous men. Periodically, members of cultured society became so morally outraged by the maxixe that they insisted the police close down the dance halls where it was practiced. The minister of war even banned music labeled as maxixe from performance by military bands. Despite the attitudes of the elite, the dance was quickly adopted by instrumental ensembles of the day. Listen to an example by the famous Banda do Corpo de Bombeiros playing Ernesto Nazareth's maxixe "Brejeiro" by clicking here. - In 1895, the maxixe attained a degree of social respectabillity with the opening of an operetta called "Zinzinha maxixe" that included popular maxixes with added lyrics. The operetta featured twentythree pieces by Chiquinha Gonzaga including "Corta jaca", a piece that quickly became part of the choro standard repertoire. Ernesto Nazareth also composed maxixes, but he preferred to label the pieces 'tango brasileiro', allthough his "tangos" exhibit all the characteristics of maxixe in rhythm, melody, and tempo markings. Listen to Nazareth's maxixe "Dengoso" as played by Banda da Casa Edison, click here
The maxixe was taken to Paris, where it became one of the first forms of Brasilian popular music to be legitimized abroad. It was introduced in Paris in 1905 by a dance couple named Derminy and Morly, and was modified when it was successfully re-introduced in 1912 by Monsieur Duque (- the stage name of Brazilian dancer and composer Antonio Lopes Amorim Diniz, who moved to Paris in 1909).After the success, Duque traveled back to Brazil ten years later to see what the latest version of the dance looked like and he found that it was now bouncier, had some new variations, and was sometimes called samba. During the season of 1922-23, he introduced the Brazilian samba, next evolutionary stage of the maxixe, at his Montmartre dance hall Shéhérazade. The famed Afro-Brazilian orchestra Les Batutas (Os Oito Batutas) led by none other than Pixinguinha provided music for the premier.
Also Pixinguinha composed maxixes, an early example of a very beautiful maxixe by Pixinguinha titled "Morro do pinto" as performed by Grupo do Pixinguinha in 1908 is accessible by clicking here
The maxixe also reached the U.s. and had a short-lived success during the 1910s. It was introduced by the highly popular dance couple Irene and Vernon Castle, you can watch a short film fragment of the couple dancing the American version of maxixe hereThere was even composed a maxixe as a tribute to the Castles' success, "The Castlewalk", here performed by contemporary couples
By 1930, the maxixe dance began to decline in popularity in Brazil, it was supplanted by the urban samba and new imports such as foxtrot and the Charleston. The maxixe, however, remained in the choro repertory as an instrumental genre.
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The above info is excerpted and quoted from the book "Choro, A Social History of a Brazilian Popular Music" (2005) by T.E. Livingston-Isenhour & Th.G.C. Garcia, pp. 17-37.
Additional info on the Parisian maxixe success quoted from article by Richard Powers, "The Maxixe" (1983;2005) to be launched here
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Jo
Yamandú & Dominguinhos: Lado B
The critically acclaimed first cd by Yamandú Costa and accordionist Dominguinhos from 2007 (Biscoito Fino, BF690) has now had its follow-up, titled 'Lado B', and containing 15 tracks of wonderful music by the duo, recorded in just three days. Guitarist Yamandú Costa and Dominguinhos had only met once before teaming in studio to record their first cd, nonetheless the teamwork and mutual understanding between the two musicians resulted in outstanding recordings of great music covering a variety of genres showing off elaborate arrangements and magnificent interplay that otherwise only may be expected from musicians who have been playing together for a long time. The great interplay certainly continues on the new cd, shown below.
The repertoire of the new disc again covers a variety of genres, you can listen to the duo's interpretation of choro ('Carioquinha' by Waldir Azevedo, 'Doce de Coco' by Jacob do Bandolim and Herminio Bello de Carvalho, 'Naquele Tempo' by Pixinguinha, 'Choro do Gago' by Yamandú and 'Chorando em Passo Fundo, by Dominguinhos), a bolero ('Solamente una Vez', by Agustín Lara), further some examples of tunes connected with the North Eastern part of Brazil, 'Pau de Arara' a successful hit by 'the king of baião', Luiz Gonzaga, and 'Fuga pro Nordeste' by Dominguinhos. The North Eastern tradition is also detected in further presented compositions by Dominguinhos, 'Noites Sergipanas', 'Sanfona de Cordel' and 'Homenagem a Pixinguinha' written in co-operation with Anastácia. The remaining tracks cover titles like 'Da Cor do Pecado' by Bororó, 'Homenagem a Chiquinho' by Dominguinhos and Guadalupe, 'Felicidade' by Lupicíno Rodrigues and 'No Rancho Fundo' by Ary Barroso and Lamartine Babo. - In all, the music presented on the cd is a delightful selection of tunes that convincingly demonstrate great interplay and a deep, mutual understanding and respect between the two musicians, highly recommended, if you already enjoyed the duo's first release from 2007.Both albums are accessible in streaming audio from Radio UOL, click here. The new cd is available for purchase at the website of Biscoito Fino, click here
To give you an impression of the interplay between Yamandú and Dominguinhos, I'll insert a couble of videos, here is first a fragment from a live-performance at Auditório IbirapueraTo end this, here is a recording from a TV-performance by the duo - enjoy!
Jo
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