Pixinguinha 110 Years!

Yesterday, April 23th, was the 110th anniversary of the famous Brazilian composer, Alfredo da Rocha Vianna Filho (1897-1973), better known as Pixinguinha.

Pixinguinha was a choro composer, arranger, flutist and saxophonist born in Rio de Janeiro. Through the legacy of the pioneering choro composers of the 19th century and of the Afro-Brazilian tradition, Pixinguinha produced some of the most important choro works of all time. Edifying the choro as a musical genre, he conferred on it personality and identity. Some of his notable compositions include "Carinhoso" and "1 X 0" ("Um a Zero").

More information on the career of Pixinguinha to be found here

The name and legacy of Pixinguinha is kept well alive in Brazil, some years ago his date of birth even was announced the official 'Choro Day' of the nation, and to tell from the many arrangements made to celebrate Pixinguinha's 110th anniversary and 'Dia Nacional de Choro' this year, Pixinguinha still has a strong influence in the musical tradition of contemporary Brazil.

Among the many actual projects concerning Pixinguinha and his historical importance in Brazilian music, I should very much like to point the visitors of this blog to a great resource, also accessable outside Brazil due to a great website with various online facilities. I am refering to the Instituto Moreira Salles of Rio de Janeiro, which has prepared a special site regarding Pixinguinha to be reached clicking here or on headline.

At the mentioned site you have the opportunity to listen to original recordings by Pixinguinha from the huge collection held by the Instituto Moreira Salles. Moreover the staff at IMS has made a lot of photos according Pixinguinha accessable online, and you can search their online catalog regarding Pixinguinha's manuscrips of compositions, books available on Pixinguinha etc. Enough material for a closer study for the serious visitor and a great tribute to keeping Pixinguinha's legacy well a live in the future also.

Yesterday evening I celebrated Pixinguinha and 'Choro Day' by listening to a great CD by Zé da Velha and Silvério Pontes, "Só Pixinguinha" released by the Biscoito Fino label in 2006. The CD has compositions by Pixinguinha only (- thus the title), and Zé da Velha (tb) and Silvério Pontes (tp) are accompanied by a choro group featuring Charlles da Costa (violão), Alessandro Cardoso (cavaquinho),Netinho Albuquerque (pandeiro) and guest soloists Yamandu Costa (violão 7 cordas, Paulo Sérgio Santos (cl), Cristóvão Bastos (p), Joel Nascimento (bandolim) a.o.. I highly recommend this great cd as a splendid example of contemporary choro and up-to-date renditions of master Pixinguinha. More info on the cd to be found clicking hereJo