National Choro Day

[Durium]

DIA NACIONAL DO CHORO

On the 4th of September 2000 an official document of the Brazilian government announced that the 23rd of April every year shall be marked as Dia Nacional do Choro - National Choro Day. The 23rd of April was deliberately chosen in honour of Alfredo da Rocha Viana Filho - better known as Pixinguinha (April 23, 1897 - February 7, 1973), choro composer, arranger, flautist and saxophonist. Today it is Pixinguinha's 113th birthday - and Choro Day, all over Brazil and elsewhere music events are scheduled to celebrate choro and Pixinguinha.Choro and Pixinguinha Day

Durium

[GA Russell]

Thanks for posting this, Durium. I know very little about the subject, but I vote for Moacir Santos. I have his last album, called Choros & Allegros, and I'll plan to play it today.

[Jazzmoose]

I assumed it was some kind of food...

[Harold_Z]

Thanks for posting this Durium. I am always amazed by similarities between (for one example) the early recordings of Pixinguinha and early jazz recordings from the US. I know you are aware of this similarity and I'm sure there are others,but there is surprisingly little to be found online. Imho, this is something that needs to be documented before it fades further into the past.

[Durium]

Thanks for posting this Durium. I am always amazed by similarities between (for one example) the early recordings of Pixinguinha and early jazz recordings from the US. I know you are aware of this similarity and I'm sure there are others,but there is surprisingly little to be found online. Imho, this is something that needs to be documented before it fades further into the past.

Thanks for your commend - you're complete right - in fact the Choro-music blog ( http://choro-music.blogspot.com ) seems to be the only one available ( in English).

Choro Music Blog

Durium

[seeline]

Thanks for posting this Durium. I am always amazed by similarities between (for one example) the early recordings of Pixinguinha and early jazz recordings from the US. I know you are aware of this similarity and I'm sure there are others,but there is surprisingly little to be found online. Imho, this is something that needs to be documented before it fades further into the past.

I think you'll find that there is actually a lot of content out there, but it's almost all in Portuguese.

(With the exception of the wonderful Choro Music blog, that is.)

It's a living style; it didn't die with Pixinguinha and Jacob and Waldir A.

One of the best labels for new recordings is Acari Records: http://www.acari.com.br/

Kuarup Discos (which went belly-up some time ago) has sold a lot of its choro catalog to Biscoito Fino.

http://www.kuarup.com.br/br/

http://www.biscoitofino.com.br/bf/ - note: their site is very poorly designed, but... they've got some superb choro recordings in their catalog!

*

Durium: I didn't vote in your poll because I think it's impossible for me to choose one single person out of all the great chorões. I guess I would choose Pixinguinha as the most important composer and as influential in many other ways (in samba as well as choro), but... I just can't choose a "favorite" musician. And _ I would add Chiquinha Gonzaga and Ernesto Nazareth to that list of great composers! And definitely Garoto!

Here are some of my favorites, though:

Hamilton de Holanda

Maurício Carrilho

Paulinho da Viola

Luciana Rabello

Raphael Rabello

Henrique Cazes

Marcello Gonçalves

Paulo Moura

Paulo Sérgio Santos

João Rabello

Armandinho

Pedro Amorim

Rodrigo Lessa

Marco Pereira

Maria Teresa Madeira

Nailor "Proveta" Azevedo

Carolina Cardoso de Menezes (also spelled "Meneses")

Abel Ferreira

Guinga

Mozar Terra

Trio Madeira Brasil

Rabo de Lagartixa

.... and I could go on from there. (fwiw, these musicians all play, compose and record in a variety of styles, not just choro.)

I hope some of you will investigate work by younger players. (and I'm being very free with the use of the word "younger" here. ) A lot of them can be found on Emusic.com, too!

Edited April 24, 2010 by seeline

[GA Russell]

Clave, I have a DVD of Hamilton de Holanda, and he's amazing! The great ones make it look easy.

[seeline]

Clave, I have a DVD of Hamilton de Holanda, and he's amazing! The great ones make it look easy.

He's amazing, isn't he? Just curious: what's the DVD - is it the one with Mike Marshall?

[GA Russell]

Clave, I have a DVD of Hamilton de Holanda, and he's amazing! The great ones make it look easy.

He's amazing, isn't he? Just curious: what's the DVD - is it the one with Mike Marshall?

Yes, it came with the New Words Novas Palavras cd.

[seeline]

Believe it or not, I don't have a copy of that disc. (Though friends who do have basically said the same things you have re. Hamilton's playing on the DVD.)

I have a DVD made by singer Zélia Duncan ("Eu me transformo em outras") where he was part of the ensemble - his work as an ensemble player and as a soloist is just amazing. (Equally true for everyone else in the group.)

I was thinking that maybe he's been part of some other concert DVDs - ??? (i don't know for sure.) I do know that he's made a couple of live recordings (CD) that are well worth hunting down.

Edited April 25, 2010 by seeline