String Music of Pernambuco

Great choro players like João Pernambuco and Luperce Miranda influenced the Carioca version of choro by incorporating compositions, conception and rhythmic elements reflecting the musical traditions of their native Pernambuco homeregion, Northeast of Brazil. If you are interested in learning more about the music traditions of Pernambuco related with choro, I recommend you to start your investigation by listening to two recordings by Henrique Annes, a contemporary arranger, composer and erudite violãnista keeping the Pernambuco string music tradition well alive.

Henrique Annes (b 1946) is - according to info by Alvaro Neder in AMG - the founder of the Orquestra de Cordas Dedilhadas de Pernambuco (Orchestra of Fingered Strings of Pernambuco), the Oficina de Cordas do Recife (Recife Strings Workshop, another group), and of the Orquestra Armorial (Armorial Orchestra). He has been performing as a soloist of chamber and symphonic orchestras both in Brazil and the U.S. As an educator, he created and has long since been involved with the Music Conservatory of Recife (Pernambuco), where he created the chair of violão erudito (classical guitar).

In 1996 Kuarup records released an album, Henrique Annes & Oficina de Cordas de Pernambuco KCD 085), containing plucked string music of Pernambuco arranged and with musical direction by Henrique Annes and Marco César. The 16 tracks of this album reflect the various musical string traditions of Pernambuco and have compositions by Nelson Ferreira, João Pernambuco, Edgard de Moraes, Luiz Bandeira, José Menezes, Alfredo Medeiros, Nonato Luiz, Adalberto Cavalcanti besides pieces by Henrique Annes for solo guitar, further a version of Luiz Bonfá's 'Manhã de Carnaval' arranged for string ensemble. The string ensemble consist of Henrique Annes (Violão), Marco César (Bandolim), Ledjane Sara (Cavaquinho), Adalberto Cavalcanti (Bandola), Claúdio Moura (Viola sertaneja), Fernando Rangel (Contrabaixo), Raimundo Batista (Percussão) - on a couple of tracks guest performance by Jorge Cardoso (Cavaquinho) and Jean François (Contrabaixo). The music is well arranged and performed, a great listening experience and an album worth replaying to explore nuances and - in some cases - extremely varied rhythmic structure. Highly recommended, indeed.

The shown 'Violão Pernambucano' (Kuarup, KCD 163, iss. 2002) is dedicated to Henrique Annes' interpretations of his own works. To give you an impression of the music, I'll quote Alvaro Neder in AMG:

"Diverse influences permeate the compositions. "Caribeana No. 1" evokes the Southern border of Brazil with echoes of Argentinean milongas and chamamés; "Caribeana No. 2" brings in the reminiscent Renaissance lute, played in minor key. All of the four "Caribeanas" are decidedly marked by a fluent, evenly distributed stream of notes, while the vivid rhythm accompaniment pushes the movement forwards. "Choro Para Maurício Carrilho" has a different, pre-bossa nova character, with overtones that suggest Garoto's compositions and harmony. The three prelúdios (preludes), on the other hand, are infused with a melancholic, doleful feel. Annes is joined on some tracks by an impressive array of some of the best Brazilian choro musicians. "Angelical" is played solo by Joel do Nascimento, "Mesclado" by Altamiro Carrilho, and "Lembranças de Gravatá" by Paulo Sérgio Santos, while the regional choro accompanying group is provided by Maurício Carrilho (guitar), Luciana Rabelo (cavaquinho), and Jorginho do Pandeiro (pandeiro)."

Both of the mentioned albums by Henrique Annes are worth looking for and highly recommended, if you would like to explore the Pernambuco music tradition related with choro.

To illustrate the violão Pernambucano tradition, I found a couple of video performances on YouTube. The first is a composition by Getúlio Cavalcanti, "O Bom Sebastião"

The second video is a performance of Nelson Ferreira's "Evocação N.1" - unfortunately the filmed sequence is not the best, however, great music and playing. Hope you to enjoy, anyway

Jo