National Choro Day was celebrated on April 23rd, in honor of the probable birth date of Alfredo da Rocha Vianna Filho, known as Pixinguinha, a great master who I had the pleasure of meeting, as we lived in the same neighborhood. Boys, we knew about his fame and his simplicity, sitting in the bar on the corner, wearing a pajama shirt, ready for a chat.
Furthermore, on February 29, 2024, this genuinely national musical genre was recognized as Cultural Heritage of Brazil by the Advisory Council of the Institute of National Historical and Artistic Heritage – IPHAN, inscribed in the Book of Forms of Expression.
Choro or simply Chorinho, known throughout Brazil, is directly associated with Rio culture. Tradition indicates that this musical genre began in Rio de Janeiro, when it was still known as “A Corte”, in the imperial period.
Due to its political and commercial importance and provided with a busy port, the city was home to diverse cultural influences, originating from different corners of the world, associated with the ethnicities that formed the Brazilian people.
The court halls played waltzes, polkas, maxixes. The streets sang sambas, jongos, modinhas, a fusion of African and indigenous rhythms. The musicians, attentive to new developments, sought to incorporate such manifestations, an ideal jelly for the creation of Choro.
According to the technical report included in the process for registering Choro as Cultural Heritage of Brazil, dated February 2023, the first references to the term appeared in the 1890s. On March 7, 1896, the newspaper Dom Quixote published a note entitled “ Choro”, in which he reported that “the boys here in the city, the worldly male troupe of this capital, call the B series dances a little choro”
Tinhorão, in his Pequena História da Música Popular Brasileira, indicates that this genre emerged in the second half of the 19th century as a particular expression of playing, in which musicians included improvisations on their instruments – flute, cavaquinho and guitar – producing a very characteristic sound. , plangent, sad as a cry.
Later, other instruments were incorporated, depending on the environments and situations: mandolins, seven-string guitars, tambourines, clarinets.
The genre spread, adopted by musicians with classical training, presenting it to all social classes from the beginning of the 20th century, through renowned instrumentalists such as Ernesto Nazareth, Waldir Azevedo and Pixinguinha, who became its patron, with the date of his birthday celebrated as National Chorinho Day.
Choro, performed in a circle, with different musicians participating spontaneously, gained bars, squares, occupied the first radio stations and some notable stages in the city.
Os Oito Batutas, a musical group formed by Pixinguinha, Donga and six other companions, created in 1919, went beyond national borders, performing in Paris, performing chorinhos, maxixes, batuques and other national genres.
However, the squares managed to survive the century and preserve their tradition as a popular setting for Choro. When this music regains its space, it recovers the appreciation of the genre that was born in this city. Its plaintive notes can reveal the essence of Rio’s formation, coming from “three very sad races”, as the poet Vinícius sang, overflowing with sonority and joy.
?Present in everyday life in Rio de Janeiro since the last decades of the 19th century, the city hall had already implemented, in 2019, the listing of an intangible nature, of cultural value, the Roda de Choro Arruma o Bandstand, held on Sundays in Praça São Salvador, in the Laranjeiras neighborhood.
However, other circles are distributed throughout different neighborhoods, some of them gaining prominence due to their impact and acceptance by local residents, in addition to attracting visitors from other corners, sometimes not so close.
The Roda de Choro do Recreio, held on Sundays for seven years, in Praça Augusto Ruschi in the Recreio dos Bandeirantes neighborhood, the subject of a recent request for listing, it awaits treatment similar to that granted to that wheel in the South Zone. Meanwhile, it is watching the process progress with the City Council, awaiting a speedy decision.
According to testimony from its participants, it started because of the affinity of some neighbors around that musical genre. While walking his dog through that square, a resident, Mr. Marcio Rondon, heard the sound of a flute filling the air, coming from the shade of a tree. There were chords of a chorinho, a tropical Pã, Mr. Pedro Fontes, performing a melody so carioca.
That first conversation revealed something in common, as both of them, in addition to being lovers of choro and samba, studied at the Escola Portátil de Música, in Urca, created by musicians in 2000, considered one of the biggest references in the teaching of choro in the country. They teach instrument classes, music appreciation, history of choro, harmony, arrangement, composition, collective learning. The meeting became the seed for a local circle.
Through word of mouth, other interested parties emerged to enjoy or play alongside those musicians, in the shade of a beautiful, leafy beach cotton tree, in the open air, “filling the air with sound”, like Cigarra, by Milton Nascimento.
Over time, musicians of all ages, backgrounds and skill levels gather in the square at Praça Augusto Ruschi, in Recreio dos Bandeirantes, to form the Roda de Choro do Recreio. Amateurs and professionals, young and old, everyone is welcome, a diversity that reflects the cosmopolitan nature of the city, where cultures intertwine, communicating through music, a universal language, awaiting its declaration by municipal power.
Warning
Warning
