Young Talent - Nicolas Silva

During the 1950s and early 1960s choro was out of vogue in Brazil, this kind of music was considered old people's music not worth giving exposure in radio and TV or being promoted by the big record companies. Only a handful of well known choro artists - like Pixinguinha, Jacob do Bandolim, Waldir Azevedo, Abel Ferrari to name a few - still had work, but were often forced to share their talents in musical contexts outside choro to survive. However, things luckily changed during the revival of choro during the mid-1970s, and today choro seems to be as strong as ever, both in the public opinion and among musicians devoting their talents to this great music tradition of Brazil. New talents are surfaced every now and then, last night I was lucky to spot one of them on YouTube, the 10 years old Nicolas Silva - an accomplished young master of the violão. The only technical problem Nicolas seems to meet is the full size of the instrument he is using in performance, anyway, he has his time ahead and the whole world on a string, I hope. - Enjoy Nicolas Silva in three video performances of well known choro tunes.

From a concert performance Nicolas Silva plays "Brejeiro" by E. Nazareth

From the same live concert Nicolas Silva performs "Tico tico no fubá" by Z.de Abreu

The last performance by Nicolas Silva inserted here is a rendition of Pixinguinha's "Carinoso" - remember to celebrate choro day on April 23th!

Jo