Choro, which means "cry" or "lament" in Portuguese, is a type of Brazilian music that began in the 19th century in Rio de Janeiro. Even though its name suggests sadness, the music often has a quick and joyful rhythm. It is known for skilled playing, improvisation, and small changes in key. The music includes offbeat rhythms and different melodies played together. Choro is considered the first Brazilian style of urban popular music. Musicians who play choros are called chorões.

Choro instruments

Originally, choro music was played by a group of three instruments: flute, guitar, and cavaquinho (a small stringed instrument with four strings). Other instruments often used in choro include mandolin, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, and trombone. These melody instruments are supported by a rhythm section that includes a six-string guitar, a seven-string guitar (which plays low-pitched notes), and light percussion instruments such as a pandeiro. The cavaquinho sometimes plays a melody and sometimes joins the rhythm section.

Compositional structure

A choro composition usually has three parts. These parts follow a pattern called rondo form, which is written as AABBACCA. Each section of the composition is typically in a different key. The keys often follow this order: the main key, then a related key, and finally a key that is connected to the main key. Choros can be written in both major and minor keys.

History

In the 1800s, choro music began when Brazilian musicians combined different music styles, such as polka, schottische, waltz, mazurka, and habanera. These musicians were already influenced by rhythms from Afro-Brazilian music, especially lundu and batuque. At first, the word “choro” was used to describe the way music was played or a group of musicians. For example, in the 1870s, a flutist named Joaquim Antônio da Silva Calado created a group called “Choro Carioca” that played flute, two guitars, and a small guitar-like instrument called a cavaquinho. Later, the term “choro” came to mean the music genre itself. Choro ensembles also played the music for a dance called maxixe, which was sometimes called “tango brasileiro.” Over time, new types of choro music were created, such as choro-polca, choro-lundu, choro-xote, choro-mazurca, choro-valsa, choro-maxixe, samba-choro, and choro-baião.

Like ragtime in the United States, tango in Argentina, and habanera in Cuba, choro developed from a mix of European and African musical styles and rhythms.

At first, from the 1880s to the 1920s, choro music was popular among informal groups of friends, especially workers in postal, railway, and telegraph services. These groups played at parties, pubs called botecos, on the streets, and at home dances called forrobodós. The most famous songs were written by pianists like Ernesto Nazareth and Chiquinha Gonzaga. Their music was printed and sold. By the 1910s, many of the earliest Brazilian phonograph records were choro music.

From the 1930s to the 1940s, choro music became more popular because of radio. Musicians performed live on the radio, which helped spread the music. However, by the 1950s and 1960s, choro was replaced by urban samba on the radio. Still, choro remained popular in amateur groups called “rodas de choro,” which met in homes and botecos. The most famous of these groups were held in the home of composer Jacob do Bandolim in Rio de Janeiro’s Jacarepaguá neighborhood and in a pub called “Suvaco de Cobra” in Penha.

In the late 1970s, choro music was revived through TV-sponsored festivals in 1977 and 1978. These events brought new, younger musicians and listeners to choro. Because of these efforts, choro music continues to be popular in Brazil. Recently, choro has also attracted attention from musicians in the United States, such as Anat Cohen, Mike Marshall, and Maurita Murphy Mead, who have introduced the music to new audiences.

Many Brazilian classical composers recognize choro as an important part of Brazilian instrumental music. Radamés Gnattali said choro was the most sophisticated instrumental popular music in the world. Heitor Villa-Lobos called choro the true expression of Brazilian soul. Both composers were influenced by choro and used it in their classical works. The French composer Darius Milhaud was inspired by choro during his time in Brazil in 1917. He used choro music in his ballet Le Bœuf sur le toit, which included nearly 30 Brazilian tunes.

According to Aquiles Rique Reis, a Brazilian singer, “Choro is classical music played with bare feet and calluses on the hands.”

Notable choro compositions

• "Brejeiro" (Ernesto Nazareth)
• "Apanhei-te, cavaquinho" (Ernesto Nazareth)
• "Odeon" (Ernesto Nazareth)
• "Corta Jaca" (Chiquinha Gonzaga)
• "Carinhoso" (Pixinguinha)
• "Lamentos" (Pixinguinha)
• "Descendo a Serra" (Pixinguinha)
• "Cochichando" (Pixinguinha)
• "Segura Ele" (Pixinguinha)
• "Um a zero" (Pixinguinha)
• "Vou Vivendo" (Pixinguinha)
• "Sete cordas" (Raphael Rabello)
• "Brasileirinho" (Valdir Azevedo)
• "Pedacinhos do Céu" (Waldir Azevedo)
• "Dôce de Coco" (Jacob do Bandolim)
• "Noites Cariocas" (Jacob do Bandolim)
• "Tico-Tico no Fubá" (Zequinha de Abreu)
• "Meu caro amigo" (Chico Buarque and Francis Hime)
• "Meu amigo Radamés" (Antônio Carlos Jobim)
• "Choros nos. 1 to 14" (Concert music inspired by Choro, composed by Heitor Villa-Lobos)