Duo Choro na Manga

Choro was born in Rio de Janeiro late 19th Century and has since evolved into one of Brazil's most prominent and popular instrumental music forms. Today choro also has a significant presence outside of Brazil, in many countries there are choro clubs, concerts and rodas featuring both amateurs and professional musicians devoting their chops to choro. In the city of Turin, an important cultural center of northern Italy, the duo Choro na Manga do their part by helping to spread choro. Choro na Manga has Brasilian bandolinist Marco Ruviaro and Italian guitarist Fabrizio Forte as its members, the duo was born in September 2007. After a short period of weekly meetings, Marco Ruviaro and Fabrizio Forte had an extensive repertoire of instrumental music with sophisticated arrangements and a unique style of playing, the duo Choro na Manga was born. According to the official website of Choro na Manga, choro for a duo is more than just a simple combination of a soloist and an accompanist, the two musicians seek to exploit the resources of the two instruments and broaden the horizons to the maximum musically. Last year, January 2009 the debut cd of the duo was released containing 10 recordings made during 2008 in Turin.

The repertoire of the cd covers well-known choros by prominent composers like Pixinguinha, Jacob do Bandolim, João Pernambuco, Garoto a.o. (see tracklist at Choro na Manga's web), and the arrangements and execution of the chosen material are terrific. The duo does a great work to sound like a unity, the interplay between Marco and Fabrizio is excellent and elaborate - the cd is highly recommended as an example of the art of the duo in the field of choro. The cd is avialable for download in mp3 at Amazon, and you may also have access to the music at iTunes, for more info and audio examples check the website of Choro na Manga here

Marco Ruviaro was born in São Paulo (Brazil) and started studying music at age 11. He studied guitar and has a BA in guitar from the Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). He is self-taught in choro but has participated in several workshops of choro led by teachers like Pedro Amorim, Joel Nascimento, Luiz Otavio Braga, Jayme Vignoli, Mauricio Carrilho and Luciana Rabello. In Turin, Marco conducts the Choro Club and is a member of the club's quartet besides taking part in choro events around the world; an interview with Marco (- in Portuguese) is to be found here

Fabrizio Forte, a native of Turin (Italy), started in music at age 15 when he began studying guitar and bass as a self-taught. After several years playing blues and jazz, in 1997 he had his first contact with Brasilian music by the noted composer and singer João Gilberto and has since devoted himself almost exclusively to Choro, Bossa Nova and Brasilian music in general. Fabrizio now teaches guitar at the Conservatory of Novara.

To give you an impression of duo Choro na Manga's interpretations of choro I'll insert some video extracts from a live concert earlier this year at Auditorio di Vinovo, Turin. - Here is first a performance of "Coralina" by Albertino Pimentel



Here's a performance of "Segura ele" by Pixinguinha


The duo also has a performance of João Pernambuco's "Sons de carillhões" extended with a quotation of "Asa Branca"


Finally, the last video from the mentioned concert has a rendition of Garoto's "Desvairada"



Jo

Announcement: Choro Rio de Janeiro In Concert

To promote the present exhibition of paintings in The Brazil Series by folk/rock icon Bob Dylan the National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, presents a choro concert on Sunday 19 September at 3 p. m., 2010 in co-operation with The Brazilian Embassy in Copenhagen. The concert features the choro ensemble named Choro Rio de Janeiro and participating musicians are: Marcilio Lopes (bandolim), Jayme Vignoli (cavaco), Mauricio Carrilho (guitar), Oscar Bolão (pandeiro) and Martin Heap (violão de 7 cordas). - The event is free, no reservations. Place: National Gallery of Denmark, Sølvgade 48-50, Copenhagen.

Jo

Nordic Choro

Some weeks ago my good friend, Hans, forwarded a link to the inserted video below as a kind gesture according my birthday - enjoy this performance of a tune titled "Happy Birthday To Me"



The composer of this tune is Jarmo Romppanen, who plays the bandolim in the video and is the main soloist in the trio that is officially named Nordic Choro. The Nordic Choro trio is from Finland, Scandinavia, and the ensemble has a profile on MySpace including video performance and audio files of some of the music played by the group, most of it composed by Jarmo Romppanen, who also has a website about his various projects here. - Nordic Choro was founded in the Autumn of 2008 and consists of Jarmo Romppanen (10-string bandolim), Anders Perander (percussions, cavaquinho, banjo) and Fabio de Oliveira (7-string guitar).The repertoire of the ensemble consists mainly of contemporary compositions by Jarmo Romppanen. According to the info of the group-profile, Jarmo has been inspired by Brazilian choro music and musicians, and also influenced by nordic folk-fiddle styles. In the profile of Nordic Choro Jarmo also points to the background of the trio, quote: "If choro music would have been born in the Nordic countries in the late 19th century, it might be sounding like this at the beginning of the 21st. However – excepting the European ones – we didn´t have the same influences here in the North, so this is just a vision and nordic choro is an imaginary genre. Nonetheless, the group Nordic Choro is a real representative of the genre and there is no need to be too serious about different music styles. After all, music is for playing ;-)"

I really like the music played by the Nordic Choro trio, a positive surprise addition to the choro genre with a Nordic folkmusic-touch played by devoted and highly skilled musicians. The trio has just released their debut cd that I should like to have and review later; links to online-retailers of the cd are notated at the MySpace profile of Nordic Choro.

To give you further impressions of the music played by Nordic Choro, I'll insert a couple more of the videos uploaded at YouTube recorded during a live performance of the trio in April 2009 at the Sibelius Academy (Helsinki, Finland). Here is a performance of another composition by Jarmo Romppanen, "Backas the better"



The next tune is also composed by Jarmo Romppanen, "Safe & warm"



Finally, to end this small presentation of Nordic Choro, here is a performance of a composition by the Brasilian 7-string guitarist of the trio, Fabio de Oliveira - the title is "Atras do Prejuizo"



Jo

Paulo Moura (1932 - 2010)

Returning from a break without internet and news media I learned late last night that Paulo Moura has passed away on July 12 following a cancer desease (lymphoma), 77 years of age. The sad news was announced at his official website by André Vallias the following day and since then obituaries and appraisal articles have been published both in Brazil and the rest of the world. The music world has lost one of its greatest instrumentalists on the contemporary scene.

Paulo Moura was born in the interior of the state of São Paulo on July 15, 1932, as one of 10 siblings who all were taught to play different instruments by their father, himself a reed player. As a teenager Paulo moved to Rio de Jaineiro to study at the National School of Music and at the same time started to play in night clubs and on radio. By the late '50s he had won a spot as lead clarinetist in the orchestra of the Municipal Theater in Rio and at the same time he worked as an accompanist to visiting international artists. In 1978 he decided to quit the orchestra and from then on dedicated himself exclusively to a solo career. Over the next 30 years he made numerous recordings both under his own name and as an accompanist, he also composed music for television and films and occasionally appeared as an actor, in addition he further served as director of the Museum of Image and Sound for two years in the 1980s.

Paulo Moura was a master of both the clarinet and the saxophone excelling in different music styles covering jazz, choro, samba, bossa nova and classical. In 1992 he won a prize as best soloist in classical music, and in 2000 his live album dedicated to Pixinguinha was awarded a Latin Grammy. In 1962 Paulo Moura helped introducing the bossa nova in the US during a famous concert at Carnegie Hall together with Sergio Mendes a.o.. Later he had a close co-work with pianist Cliff Korman introducing their special mix of Gafieira and Jazz to an international public, and during his solo career he toured major parts of the world successfully. Marcello Gonçalves has expressed the versatility of Paulo Moura in short: "No matter where he was playing, he always maintained the same posture and this just added to his elegance."

I first learned about Paulo Moura from Mika Kaurismäki's documentary 'Brasileirinho, Choro in Rio' (2005) where he is featured as a soloist in sequences showing the gafieira/ballroom tradition alive, here is one of the memorable scenes showing Paulo Moura in great interplay with Daniela Spielman on soprano sax - the tune performed is "Chorinho pra Voce"



Paulo Moura had a distinct sound thanks to his Buffet Crampon Clear Lucite clarinet as documented in this video featuring a rendition of K-Ximbinho's "Ternura"



In remembrance of a great musician who has played an important part in the revival of choro on the contemporary music scene, here is a performance by Paulo Moura playing " Pro Paulo"



More info, discography, music and video material to be found at Paulo Moura's excellent website, click here

Jo

Fred Hersch plays Jobim

Fred Hersch, a US jazz piano player, released last year an album that fascinated me. The album is entitled Fred Hersch plays Jobim. Although not a pure Choro album, Fred Hersch dedicated it to the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim, the great Brazilian composer. In the liner notes Fred tells that he is a great fan of chorinhos - this fascinating for Choro music is to be heard in some of the tunes - enough reason to introduce you to this album.
Fred Hersch is one of those jazz piano players who fascinate me. Although he plays and records since the early 1980s I learned about him and his music only a few years ago, thanks to the documentary Let Yourself Goes - The lives of Fred Hersch - a fascinating portrait of a gifted musician in his fight agains his HIV-infection. Last year I heard him in a concert with his Fred Hersch Trio + 2 at the North Sea Jazz Festival, in Rotterdam. For this performance Fred had invited two horn players, Ralph Alessi on trumpet and flugelhorn and Tony Malaby on tenor saxophone. The photos used in this contribution are made, with a simple digital camera, during this concert.

Fred Hersch ( North Sea Jazz Festival ( Rotterdam) July 2009 ( photo courtesy: Hans Koert)

Last year Fred released a solo album dedicated to Antonio Carlos Jobim. But few people won't have ever heard the music of Jobim. His bossa nova styled songs like the Girl from Ipanema, Desafinado or Meditation, to list some well known themes, are well known and where all part of the pop charts of the 1960s. The bossa nova, a mix of Brazilian music and jazz, to keep it simply, was introduced by musicians like Astrud Gilberto, Charlie Byrd, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Stan Getz. I told about this period in a contribution about Eliane Elias' tribute to 50 years Bossa Nova In the liner notes Fred tells that he was introduced to the Bossa Nova by a local guitar player Kenny Poole. This men died a few years ago and I found a fragment where you can here him playing.

He learned to play the Brazilian rhythms by drummer Edison Machado. He was one of the first to transfer the rhythms of the Bossa Nova, the Samba, and the Baiao to the drum set. He met Edison at a gig at the New York club Cachaca: I was lucky to be taught on the bandstand by a real master: Edison Machado. During Fred's career he visited Brasil three times and played with Leny Andrade, the great Brazilian singer who often played with the Sergo Mendes band Sexteto Bossa Rio. In Brazil Fred Hersch learned more about Choro. I am a huge fan of chorinhos - the equivalent of Brazilian ragtime - and have learned many of them and written some of my own. Fred Hersch at the North Sea Jazz Festival - Rotterdam ( July 2009) ( photo courtesy: Hans Koert)

Around 1870 in Rio de Janeiro ( Brazil) a new musical style emerged that would become one of the most creative musical manifestations in Brazil. Choro was primarily an instrumental form, and to a North American ear it might sound a little like a small Dixieland jazz combo playing with strange rhythms, extreme melodic leaps, unexpected modulations, and occasional breakneck tempos. Interestingly, choro's development in Brazil slightly predated the rise of ragtime and jazz in North America. Choro and jazz were both characterized in part by their use of improvisation and African-derived musical elements. ( source: Choro: Improvisation South of New Orleans in The Billboard Book of Brazilian Music by Chris McGowan and Ricardo Pessanha p. 151 )

Fred Hersch at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam ( July 2009) ( photo courtesy: Hans Koert)

In the album Fred Hersch plays Jobim Fred didn't want to play only the well known tunes, already listed above, but also some of the lesser known Jobim compositions. One of those less known tunes is O Grande Amor, which he learned from Stan Getz, who recorded it several times ( like in Sweet Rain, March 1967). I played briefly with Stan Getz in the mid-1980s and it was from him that I learned O Grande Amor. It is now one of the tunes I like the best. It starts almost like a classical Debussy-etude before it developed into a more swinging rhythmical theme. Fred Hersch was allowed to make a choice from the hundreds of compositions archived in the Jobim estate. This album contains nine tracks - all tunes were composed by Jobim, but Fred's version is not a copy of the originals. He made a selection of lesser known tunes like Por Toda Minha Vida and Luiza and some more known themes like Meditacao, Insensatez and Desafinado. The latter surprises as it contains rhythms and harmonies you don't expect in this well known theme - Fred says that he was inspired by the Brazilian rhythms he had heard. His interpretation of the slow tunes are more like a meditation - almost introverted, like Bill Evans would have played it, but the more rhythmical up-tempo tunes like Desafinado and in Brigas Nunca Mais, one of the tunes that surprised me too, the rhythms and harmonies seem to be inspired by the Choro music. On this tune, Hersch is accompanied by percussionist Jamey Haddad. This album was recorded at Ambient Studio in Stamford CT and Hersch plays on a well tuned and great sounding Steinway piano. Love to share with you the tune Insensatez as played by Hersch on this album, dedicated to the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Reading through so much of his music reinforced my belief that Jobim is one of the great composers of the 20th century regardless of genre. His bittersweet harmonies, fabulous melodies and superb craftsmanship are evident in everything he writes. ( Fred Hersch in the liner notes of Fred Hersch plays Jobim)

Ths contribution is also posted at the Keep Swinging blog.

Hans Koert

keepswinging@live.nl