Choro
Encyclopedia
Choro (ˈʃoɾu, "cry" or "lament"), traditionally called chorinho ("little cry" or "little lament"), is a Brazilian popular music
instrumental style. Its origins are in 19th century Rio de Janeiro
. In spite of the name, the style often has a fast and happy rhythm, characterized by virtuosity, improvisation, subtile modulations
and full of syncopation
and counterpoint
. Choro is considered the first urban popular music typical of Brazil.
Originally choro was played by a trio of flute
, guitar
and cavaquinho
(a small chordophone
with four strings). Other instruments commonly played in choro are the mandolin
, clarinet
, saxophone
, trumpet
and trombone
. These melody instruments are backed by a rhythm section composed of guitar, 7-string guitar (playing bass lines) and light percussion, such as a pandeiro
. The cavaquinho appears sometimes as a melody instrument, other times as part of the rhythm.
form: AABBACCA, with each section typically in a different key (usually the tonal sequence is: principal key->relative mode->sub-dominant key). There are a variety of choros in both major and minor keys.
In the 19th century, choro resulted from the style of playing several musical genres (polka
, schottische
, waltz
, mazurka
and habanera
) by carioca
musicians, who were already strongly influenced by African rhythms, principally the lundu and the batuque
. The term “choro” was used informally at first to refer to the style of playing, or a particular instrumental ensemble, (e.g. in the 1870s flutist Joaquim Antônio da Silva Callado
formed an ensemble called "Choro Carioca", with flute, two guitars and cavaquinho), and later the term referred to the music genre of these ensembles. The accompanying music of the Maxixe (dance)
(also called "tango brasileiro") was played by these choro ensembles. Various genres were incorporated as subgenres of choro such as "choro-polca", "choro-lundu" "choro-xote" (from schottische), "choro-mazurca", "choro-valsa" (waltz), "choro-maxixe", "samba
-choro", "choro baião
".
Just like ragtime
in the United States, tango
in Argentina and habanera
in Cuba, choro springs up as a result of influences of musical styles and rhythms coming from Europe and Africa.
In the beginning (by the 1880s to 1920s), the success of choro came from informal groups of friends (principally workers of postal/telegraphic service and railway) which played in parties, pubs (botecos), streets, home balls (forrobodós), and also the large success of musical scores of Ernesto Nazareth
, Chiquinha Gonzaga
and others pianists, published by print houses. By the 1910s, many of the first Brazilian phonograph records are choros.
Much of the mainstream success (by the 1930s to 1940s) of this style of music came from the early days of radio, when bands performed live on the air. By the 1950s and 1960s it was replaced by urban samba in radio, but was still alive in amateur circles called "rodas de choro" (choro gatherings in residences and botecos), the one most famous was the "roda de choro" in the house of Jacob do Bandolim
, in Jacarepaguá
, and the "roda de choro" in the pub "suvaco de cobra" in the Penha
.
In the late 1970s there was a successful effort to revitalize the genre in the mainstream, through TV-sponsored nation-wide festivals in 1977 and 1978, which attracted a new, younger generation of professional musicians. Thanks in great part to these efforts, choro music remains strong in Brazil. More recently, choro has attracted the attention of musicians in the United States, such as Mike Marshall
and Maurita Murphy Mead
, who have brought this kind of music to a new audience.
Most Brazilian classical composers recognize the sophistication of choro and its major importance in Brazilian instrumental music. Radamés Gnattali
said it was the most sophisticated instrumental popular music in the world. Heitor Villa-Lobos
defined choro as the true incarnation of Brazilian soul.
Notably, both composers had some of their music inspired by choro, bringing it to the classical tradition. The French composer Darius Milhaud
was enchanted by choro when he lived in Brazil (in 1917) and he composed the ballet Le Boeuf sur le toit
, in which he quotes close to 30 Brazilian tunes.
According to Aquiles Rique Reis (a Brazilian singer), ”Choro is classical music played with bare feet and callus on the hands”
Music of Brazil
The music of Brazil encompasses various regional music styles influenced by African, European and Amerindian forms. After 500 years of history, Brazilian music developed some unique and original styles such as samba, zouk-lambada, lambada, choro, bossa nova, frevo, maracatu, MPB, sertanejo,...
instrumental style. Its origins are in 19th century Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
. In spite of the name, the style often has a fast and happy rhythm, characterized by virtuosity, improvisation, subtile modulations
Modulation (music)
In music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature. Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as well as add interest...
and full of syncopation
Syncopation
In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...
and counterpoint
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
. Choro is considered the first urban popular music typical of Brazil.
Choro instruments
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and cavaquinho
Cavaquinho
The cavaquinho is a small string instrument of the European guitar family with four wire or gut strings. It is also called machimbo, machim, machete , manchete or marchete, braguinha or braguinho, or cavaco.The most common tuning is D-G-B-D ; other tunings include D-A-B-E...
(a small chordophone
Chordophone
A chordophone is any musical instrument that makes sound by way of a vibrating string or strings stretched between two points. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification....
with four strings). Other instruments commonly played in choro are the mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
and trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
. These melody instruments are backed by a rhythm section composed of guitar, 7-string guitar (playing bass lines) and light percussion, such as a pandeiro
Pandeiro
The pandeiro is a type of hand frame drum.There are two important distinctions between a pandeiro and the common tambourine. The tension of the head on the pandeiro can be tuned, allowing the player a choice of high and low notes...
. The cavaquinho appears sometimes as a melody instrument, other times as part of the rhythm.
Compositional structure
Structurally, a choro composition usually has three parts, played in a rondoRondo
Rondo, and its French equivalent rondeau, is a word that has been used in music in a number of ways, most often in reference to a musical form, but also to a character-type that is distinct from the form...
form: AABBACCA, with each section typically in a different key (usually the tonal sequence is: principal key->relative mode->sub-dominant key). There are a variety of choros in both major and minor keys.
History
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
, schottische
Schottische
The schottische is a partnered country dance, that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina , Finland , France, Italy, Norway , Portugal and Brazil , Spain ...
, waltz
Waltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
, mazurka
Mazurka
The mazurka is a Polish folk dance in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, and with accent on the third or second beat.-History:The folk origins of the mazurek are two other Polish musical forms—the slow machine...
and habanera
Habanera (music)
The habanera is a genre of Cuban popular dance music of the 19th century. It is a creolized form which developed from the contradanza. It has a characteristic "Habanera rhythm", and is performed with sung lyrics...
) by carioca
Carioca
Carioca is a Portuguese adjective or demonym that is used to refer to the native inhabitants of the city of Rio de Janeiro - capital of the homonym state , in Brazil...
musicians, who were already strongly influenced by African rhythms, principally the lundu and the batuque
Batuque (music)
The batuque is a music and dance genre from Cape Verde.- As a music genre :As a music genre, the batuque is characterized by having an andante tempo, a 6/8 or 3/4 measure and traditionally it is just melodic, i.e., it is just sung, it has no polyphonic accompaniment...
. The term “choro” was used informally at first to refer to the style of playing, or a particular instrumental ensemble, (e.g. in the 1870s flutist Joaquim Antônio da Silva Callado
Joaquim Antonio (Callado) da Silva
Joaquim Antonio da Silva Junior was a Brazilian composer and flutist....
formed an ensemble called "Choro Carioca", with flute, two guitars and cavaquinho), and later the term referred to the music genre of these ensembles. The accompanying music of the Maxixe (dance)
Maxixe (dance)
The maxixe , occasionally known as the Brazilian tango, is a dance, with its accompanying music , that originated in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro in 1868, at about the same time as the tango was developing in neighbouring Argentina and Uruguay...
(also called "tango brasileiro") was played by these choro ensembles. Various genres were incorporated as subgenres of choro such as "choro-polca", "choro-lundu" "choro-xote" (from schottische), "choro-mazurca", "choro-valsa" (waltz), "choro-maxixe", "samba
Samba
Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
-choro", "choro baião
Baião
The baião is a Northeast Brazilian rhythmic formula that became the basis of a wide range of music. Forró, côco, and embolada are clear examples...
".
Just like ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
in the United States, tango
Argentine tango
Argentine tango is a musical genre of simple quadruple metre and binary musical form, and the social dance that accompanies it. Its lyrics and music are marked by nostalgia, expressed through melodic instruments including the bandoneon. Originated at the ending of the 19th century in the suburbs of...
in Argentina and habanera
Habanera (music)
The habanera is a genre of Cuban popular dance music of the 19th century. It is a creolized form which developed from the contradanza. It has a characteristic "Habanera rhythm", and is performed with sung lyrics...
in Cuba, choro springs up as a result of influences of musical styles and rhythms coming from Europe and Africa.
In the beginning (by the 1880s to 1920s), the success of choro came from informal groups of friends (principally workers of postal/telegraphic service and railway) which played in parties, pubs (botecos), streets, home balls (forrobodós), and also the large success of musical scores of Ernesto Nazareth
Ernesto Nazareth
Ernesto Júlio de Nazareth was a Brazilian composer and pianist, especially noted for his creative tango and Choro compositions.Ernesto Nazareth was born in Rio de Janeiro, one of five children. His mother, Carolina da Cunha gave him his first piano lessons...
, Chiquinha Gonzaga
Chiquinha Gonzaga
Francisca Edwiges Neves Gonzaga was a Brazilian composer, pianist and conductor....
and others pianists, published by print houses. By the 1910s, many of the first Brazilian phonograph records are choros.
Much of the mainstream success (by the 1930s to 1940s) of this style of music came from the early days of radio, when bands performed live on the air. By the 1950s and 1960s it was replaced by urban samba in radio, but was still alive in amateur circles called "rodas de choro" (choro gatherings in residences and botecos), the one most famous was the "roda de choro" in the house of Jacob do Bandolim
Jacob do Bandolim
Jacob do Bandolim was a Brazilian composer and musician. Born Jacob Pick Bittencourt from a Jewish mother and Brazilian father in Rio de Janeiro, his stage name means "Mandolin Jacob", after the instrument he played....
, in Jacarepaguá
Jacarepaguá
Jacarepaguá , with a land area of is the 4th largest neighborhood in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 2000, it had a population of 100,822, making it the 9th most populous neighborhood in the city...
, and the "roda de choro" in the pub "suvaco de cobra" in the Penha
Penha (Rio de Janeiro)
Penha is a middle-class neighbourhood in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil....
.
In the late 1970s there was a successful effort to revitalize the genre in the mainstream, through TV-sponsored nation-wide festivals in 1977 and 1978, which attracted a new, younger generation of professional musicians. Thanks in great part to these efforts, choro music remains strong in Brazil. More recently, choro has attracted the attention of musicians in the United States, such as Mike Marshall
Mike Marshall (bluegrass musician)
Mike Marshall is an American mandolin player and multi-instrumentalist who grew up in central Florida and now lives in Oakland, California. Marshall has been a part of New Acoustic Music since the early 1980s. He has performed and recorded with many musicians in a variety of styles, including...
and Maurita Murphy Mead
Maurita Murphy Mead
Maurita Murphy Mead is an American clarinetist and music professor, the professor of clarinet at the University of Iowa. Mead has been secretary of the International Clarinet Association.-Education:...
, who have brought this kind of music to a new audience.
Most Brazilian classical composers recognize the sophistication of choro and its major importance in Brazilian instrumental music. Radamés Gnattali
Radamés Gnattali
Radamés Gnattali , was a Brazilian classical composer, conductor, orchestrator, and arranger.Radamés Gnattali was born in Porto Alegre, the son of Alessandro Gnattali and Adélia Fossati. Both his father and mother were musicians...
said it was the most sophisticated instrumental popular music in the world. Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos was a Brazilian composer, described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known and most significant Latin American composer to date. He wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works...
defined choro as the true incarnation of Brazilian soul.
Notably, both composers had some of their music inspired by choro, bringing it to the classical tradition. The French composer Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
was enchanted by choro when he lived in Brazil (in 1917) and he composed the ballet Le Boeuf sur le toit
Le Boeuf sur le Toit
Le boeuf sur le toit, Op. 58 is a surrealist ballet made on a score composed by Darius Milhaud which was in turn strongly influenced by Brazilian popular music. The title is that of an old Brazilian tango, one of close to 30 Brazilian tunes quoted in the composition...
, in which he quotes close to 30 Brazilian tunes.
According to Aquiles Rique Reis (a Brazilian singer), ”Choro is classical music played with bare feet and callus on the hands”
Notable Brazilian choro musicians
- Abel Ferreira
- Altamiro CarrilhoAltamiro CarrilhoAltamiro Carrilho is a Brazilian musician, composer and western concert flautist.-Discography:* Juntos * Millenium * Flauta Maravilhosa...
- Armando Neves (Armandinho)
- Benedito Lacerda
- Carlinhos 7 cordas
- Chiquinha GonzagaChiquinha GonzagaFrancisca Edwiges Neves Gonzaga was a Brazilian composer, pianist and conductor....
- Chôro das 3
- Dino 7 CordasDino 7 CordasHorondino José da Silva , best known as Dino Sete Cordas , was a Brazilian guitar player renowned as the greatest influence in seven-string guitar, a musical instrument in which he developed his own language and techniques, and one of the greatest choro instrumentalists ever.He developed the...
- Ernesto NazarethErnesto NazarethErnesto Júlio de Nazareth was a Brazilian composer and pianist, especially noted for his creative tango and Choro compositions.Ernesto Nazareth was born in Rio de Janeiro, one of five children. His mother, Carolina da Cunha gave him his first piano lessons...
- Garoto
- Hamilton de Holanda
- Henrique Cazes
- Irineu de Almeida
- Israel Bueno de Almeida
- Izaias Bueno de Almeida
- Jacob do BandolimJacob do BandolimJacob do Bandolim was a Brazilian composer and musician. Born Jacob Pick Bittencourt from a Jewish mother and Brazilian father in Rio de Janeiro, his stage name means "Mandolin Jacob", after the instrument he played....
- João Pernambuco :pt:João Pernambuco
- Luiz Otavio Braga
- Luizinho 7 Cordas
- Luperce Miranda
- Manoel Jacintho Coelho :pt:Manoel Jacintho Coelho
- Maurício Carrilho
- Milton Móri
- Nailor 'Proveta' AzevedoNailor AzevedoNailor Azevedo is a Brazilian clarinetist and saxophonist. Azevedo is a member of Banda Mantiqueira, which was nominated for a Grammy in 1998. He has performed with Benny Carter and Anita O'Day. He plays Brazilian choro and samba as well as traditional jazz.-References:...
- Oscar Castro Neves
- Paulo BellinatiPaulo BellinatiPaulo Bellinati is a classical guitarist from Brazil. He studied classical guitar with Isais Savio and graduated from the Conservatório Dramático e Musical de São Paulo...
- Paulo MouraPaulo MouraPaulo Moura was a Brazilian clarinetist and saxophonist....
- Paulo Sérgio dos Santos
- PixinguinhaPixinguinhaAlfredo da Rocha Viana, Jr., better known as Pixinguinha was a composer, arranger, flautist and saxophonist born in Rio de Janeiro. Pixinguinha is considered one of the greatest Brazilian composers of popular music, particularly within the genre of music known as choro...
- Raphael Rabello
- Silvério Pontes
- Waldir Azevedo
- Zé Barbeiro
- Zé da Velha
Notable choro compositions
- "Brejeiro" (Ernesto NazarethErnesto NazarethErnesto Júlio de Nazareth was a Brazilian composer and pianist, especially noted for his creative tango and Choro compositions.Ernesto Nazareth was born in Rio de Janeiro, one of five children. His mother, Carolina da Cunha gave him his first piano lessons...
) - "Apanhei-te Cavaquinho" (Ernesto NazarethErnesto NazarethErnesto Júlio de Nazareth was a Brazilian composer and pianist, especially noted for his creative tango and Choro compositions.Ernesto Nazareth was born in Rio de Janeiro, one of five children. His mother, Carolina da Cunha gave him his first piano lessons...
) - "Odeon" (Ernesto NazarethErnesto NazarethErnesto Júlio de Nazareth was a Brazilian composer and pianist, especially noted for his creative tango and Choro compositions.Ernesto Nazareth was born in Rio de Janeiro, one of five children. His mother, Carolina da Cunha gave him his first piano lessons...
) - "Carinhoso" (PixinguinhaPixinguinhaAlfredo da Rocha Viana, Jr., better known as Pixinguinha was a composer, arranger, flautist and saxophonist born in Rio de Janeiro. Pixinguinha is considered one of the greatest Brazilian composers of popular music, particularly within the genre of music known as choro...
) - "Lamentos" (Pixinguinha)
- "Segura Ele" (Pixinguinha)
- "Um a zero" (Pixinguinha)
- "Vou Vivendo" (Pixinguinha)
- "Brasileirinho" (Waldir Azevedo)
- "Pedacinhos do Céu" (Waldir Azevedo)
- "Doce de Coco" (Jacob do BandolimJacob do BandolimJacob do Bandolim was a Brazilian composer and musician. Born Jacob Pick Bittencourt from a Jewish mother and Brazilian father in Rio de Janeiro, his stage name means "Mandolin Jacob", after the instrument he played....
) - "Noites Cariocas" (Jacob do Bandolim)
- "Tico-Tico no FubáTico-Tico no FubáTico-Tico no Fubá is the title of a renowned Brazilian choro music piece composed by Zequinha de Abreu in 1917. Its original title was Tico-Tico no Farelo, but since Brazilian guitarist Américo Jacomino Canhoto had a work with the same title, Abreu's work was given its present name in 1931.Choro ...
" (Zequinha de AbreuZequinha de AbreuJosé Gomes de Abreu, better known as Zequinha de Abreu , was a Brazilian musician and composer who in 1917 wrote the famous choro tune "Tico-Tico no Fubá"...
) - "Meu caro amigo" (Chico BuarqueChico BuarqueFrancisco Buarque de Hollanda , popularly known as Chico Buarque , is a singer, guitarist, composer, dramatist, writer and poet...
e Francis HimeFrancis HimeFrancis Hime is a composer, arranger, pianist and singer from Brazil.-Discography:*2007 - CHORO - DVD*2007 - Francis Ao Vivo*2006 - Arquitetura da Flor*2005 - Essas Parcerias*2004 - Álbum Musical...
) - "Meu amigo Radamés" (Antonio Carlos JobimAntônio Carlos JobimAntônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim , also known as Tom Jobim , was a Brazilian songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, and pianist/guitarist. He was a primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova style, and his songs have been performed by many singers and instrumentalists within...
) - "Choros nos. 1 to 14ChôrosChôros is the title of a series of compositions by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, composed between 1920 and 1929.-Origin and conception:...
" (Heitor Villa-LobosHeitor Villa-LobosHeitor Villa-Lobos was a Brazilian composer, described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known and most significant Latin American composer to date. He wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works...
) - "Choro no. 2" (Armando Neves)
Suggested reading
- Livingston-Isenhour, T., and Garcia, T. G. C. (2005). Choro: A Social History of a Brazilian Popular Music. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press.
External links
- Abdallah Harati, Brazilian 7 string guitar player
- Dirty Linen Brief History of Choro
- Agenda do Samba & Choro
- All Brazilian Music
- Maria-Brazil - Brazilian Culture on the Web
- ChoroMusic.com Play Along Brazilian Choro
- Pe de Cana, choro trio band from Vancouver-Canada
- Choro das 3, three young sisters' group
- Brazil Essence - Majorca, Spain
- Casa de Choro - Toulouse, France