Inéditos de Jacob do Bandolim

In 1980 bandolinist Déo Rian (b 1944) released a LP album featuring 12 unpublished compositions by Jacob do Bandolim, "Inéditos de Jacob do Bandolim" (Eldorado, 31.80.0360) arranged for his choro ensemble, Conjunto Noites Cariocas. Just recently Déo Rian has released a volume 2 of hitherto unpublished compositions by Jacob do Bandolim on the Rob Digital label.

Déo Rian is accompanied by a new Conjunto Noites Cariocas: André Bellieny (violão de 7 cordas); Márcio Almeida (violão de 6 cordas); Ubyratan de Oliveira (cavaquinho); Darly Guimarães (pandeiro). Some tracks have guest performance by Aline Silveira (flauta), Bruno Rian (bandolim), Dirceu Leite (flauta & sax tenor) & Quarteto de Cordas: Felipe Prazeres/Pedro Mibielli/Ivan Zandonade/Marcus Ribeiro. Among the arrangers are Cristovão Bastos, Mauricio Carrilho, and Luiz Otávio Braga. The material used for the cd has been archieved at the Instituto Jacob do Bandolim and it contains 14 previously unpublished compositions including 4 pieces, which were recorded on volume 1 also. Tracklist inserted below:

1 - Sapeca Iaiá 2 - Novos Tempos 3 - Maroto 4 - Para Eu Der Feliz 5 - Maxixe na Tuba 6 - Sereno 7 - Primavera 8 - Velhos Amigos 9 - Adylia 10 - Lembranças 11 - Já que não Toco Violão 12 - Bisbilhoteiro 13 - Preciosa 14 - Saltitante

As mentioned above, the unpublished material used for the cd has been archieved at the Instituto Jacob do Bandolim. This institution has also more material regarding the biography and musical legacy of Jacob do Bandolim and does a great work to research and keep the interest of Jacob do Bandolim alive. On YouTube I found a contribution from the Instituto Jacob do Bandolim featuring a short filmed sequence where you can watch Jacob interviewed by a journalist - the only fragment known to exist of Jacob on screen, inserted below

Jo

Alessandro Penezzi

I found this great CD made by the Brazilian guitar player Alessandro Penezzi, titled Abismo de Rosas. Alessandro Penezzi was born in Piracicaba, a large city near Sao Paulo February 1974. He started to play the guitar when he was just a kid and when he was 13 years old he became a professional. He studied the cavaquinho, a kind of ukulele, but the guitar became his major instrument. In 2001 he became part of the Quintessencia Trio with Aleh Ferreira on the bandolim and Julio Cerezo Ortiz on the violoncello. With this trio he won an important Brazilian music price in the instrumental category.

With the trio he toured to the USA, Russia and Angola, where he performed. He became a sought after arranger and guitar player in groups like the Orquestra Jazz Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo

In 2001 he recorded his album Abismo de Rosas which contains several classical Brazilian choro tunes like Brasileirinho originally composed by Waldir Azevedo, O vôo da mosca a Jacob do Bandolim composition and Primeiro amor a Patápio Silva tune.
Being fasinated by choro music I loved this album very much and I'm happy I can show you some fragments of this great guitar player.

I found four fragments, I love to share. The one I like the most is, maybe, the last one as it shows a ronda, an informal social meeting of Brazilian musicians who play the choro. This one was made during a birthday celebration. I like that !!. The first one is a small documentary (in Portuguese ) about Penezzi's career, and he plays some great music on it. The second and third fragment are from a performance of his trio, ( Ricardo Herz on the guitar, Alessandro Penezzi on the violão 7 cordas (seven string guitar) and Danilo Brito on the bandolim.) You can hear 1 x 0, a popular Pixinguinha compostion and Cochichando. I hope you'll become as fascinated as I am about this great choro music.

This contribution was also posted in the Dutch and English language at the Keep swinging web log.

Keep swinging

Hans Koert

keepswinging@live.nl

Armandinho - Choro & Soccer

Armando Neves (Armandinho) (1902-1974) is regarded as one of the most important figures of choro developed in the city of São Paulo. Learning to play the violão by ear, he never learned music theory. Initially a soccer player, he worked as a professional for Ponte Preta and Guarani. When he switched to the Corinthians he was relocated to the city of São Paulo, and in 1919 abandoned soccer. In that city, he studied violão with his brothers, José Matoso and Joaquim Matoso, and in 1926 with Larosa Sobrinho. Musically illiterate, his gifted intuition allowed him to write sophisticated compositions.

In 1926, Sobrinho took him to Rádio Educadora Paulista, where Armandinho formed the first regional of the city of São Paulo. The group participated in the first radio broadcast between Rio and São Paulo that year. The next year, he joined 'Os Turunas Paulistas', a group led by violão virtuoso Canhoto (Américo Jacomino) who was considered the best of the period. In 1928, he performed with João Pernambuco, João dos Santos, Levino da Conceição, and others. In this year he assumed direction of the Rádio Record group, remaining there until 1956, a period when the radio enjoyed local projection. In 1930 he played for Paraguayan virtuoso violonista Agustin Barrios and recorded two 78 rpms through Parlophon with Larosa Sobrinho. An accomplished accompanist, Armandinho recorded just one solo album, a 78 for Decelith, in 1938.

Above info excerpted from a profile by Alvaro Neder in AMG.

Examples of the compositions by Armandinho are available in one of the programs by Fábio Zanon for Rádio Cultura of São Paulo in the series 'O Violão Brasileiro', the program may be downloaded in MP3 from Fábio Zanon's weblog, click here

As mentioned above Armandinho had a career as a professional soccer before devoting his interest and talent to music. From Zanon's radio feature on Armandinho I learned that one of his choro compositions, 'Choro nº11 - O Dono da Bola', is dedicated to the worldfamous Brazilian soccer virtuoso, Edson Arantes do Nascimento aka PELÉ. I found a video performance of this piece, unfortunately audio and image quality is not the best, but this is what is available. Hope this performance by Danilo Oliveira of "O dono da bola" may give you an impression of the Armandinho choro, anyway.

Jo

Choros by Paulinho da Viola

Paulinho da Viola (b 1942) is a renowned and highly respected exponent of the original Brazilian samba tradition, a successful performer and recording artist. He is also a well known producer of musical shows and recordings besides being a composer and an accomplished songwriter. Paulinho da Viola is the son of Cesar Faria, renowned guitarist with Epoca de Ouro - the handpicked choro ensemble accompanying Jacob do Bandolim during the 60s. From an early age Paulinho was influenced by the music of choro greats like Pixinguinha and Jacob do Bandolim, who would gather at his father's house playing music and socialising, however, his own career as a musician and songwriter was directed by the samba schools he attended as a youth, and to the public he is generally known as a contemporary sambista playing cavaquinho, guitar and singing his own samba ballads. Nevertheless, during his long career Paulinho da Viola has been strongly involved with choro, too. In 1973 he wrote and produced a musical show, 'Sarau', which re-introduced the Epoca de Ouro ensemble to the public with great success - this show is actually considered by many to be the starting point of the choro revival in Brazil during the 1970s. Moreover, he became close friends with Chico Soares (aka Canhoto da Paraíba) and launched his come-back being a producer of Canhoto's solo album from 1975. In 1976 Paulinho issued a double album, which contained his own choro compositions together with compositions by i.e. Pixinguinha, and he has always been a tireless spokesman in favor of the original virtues of choro, combining tradition and contemporary influences in his own performance. Learn more about Paulinho da Viola's career from his official website in both Portuguese and English, click here

Recently I borrowed the shown cd, 'Choros de Paulinho da viola' (Acari, AR-16, iss. 2005) by Marcia Taborda containing 13 choro compositions of Paulinho da Viola arranged for solo guitar. The cd is produced by Luciana Rabello, who also participates as a cavaquinho player on some tracks together with Maricio Carrilho on 7 string guitar, Kiko Horta on accordion and Luciana Requíão on bass guitar accompanying the solo guitar playing of Marcia Taborda. The music has a relaxed atmosphere and is a sheer pleasure to be listening to, highly recommended. Marcia Taborda (b 1965), who has studied with Turibío Santos, is an excellent solo guitarist and an accomplished arranger of the pieces, which furthermore are available in written music as a pdf-file on the cd, pointed at guitarists, who would like to play these pieces, too. Tracklist and discographical info available, click headline or here

To give you an impression of the compositions on the cd I found a video performance featuring the arrangement by Marcia Taborda of Paulinho da Viola's "Valsa da vida", here performed by Ovidiov

Jo