Choro

From Free net encyclopedia

Choro, also called chorinho, is a Brazilian popular music style. Its origins are in 19th century Rio de Janeiro. 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, and saxophone. These melody instruments are backed by a rhythm section composed of guitar, 7-string guitar (playing bass lines) and light percussion. The cavaquinho appears sometimes as a melody instrument, other times as part of the rhythm.

Structurally, a choro composition usually starts in a minor key, followed by a major key bridge, then a minor key finish (similar to a tango): AABBC. It's also common to repeat the first part, in accelerated tempo, to finish: AABBCA.

Much of the success of this style of music came from the early days of radio, when bands performed live on the air. By the 1960s, it had all but disappeared, being displaced by Bossa Nova and other styles of Brazilian popular music. However, in the late 1970s there was a successful effort to revitalize the genre, through TV-sponsored nation-wide festivals in 1977 and 1978, which attracted a new, younger generation of 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, who have brought this kind of music to a new audience.

The name is believed to come from chorar, which means "to cry" in Portuguese.

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