Tocador de violão - Claudionor Cruz

During the 1930s and 1940s local and national radiostations in Brazil had a 'house band' to accompany popular singers during live broadcasts and to fill in empty space between progams.These house bands - known as Conjuntos Regionais - had a crucial role in evolving and shaping the popular music of the time, making it digestable for the commercial market - including record companies and the general public. Many choro musicians started their career as a member of a conjunto Regional, and as the musicians were supposed to accompany different singers and to play a varied repertoire, these conditions helped evolving the choro genre into a form containing elements from other popular music traditions. Contemporary choro may be seen as a evolution of the genre as shaped by the conjuntos Regionais during the period, when radio and music entertainment provided by this media set the scene in the general public.

One of the choro musicians having a long career in radio and later TV was Claudionor Cruz (1914-1995). He was a son of a bandleader and started early to play cavaquinho and snare drum. He became a professional at the cavaquinho and formed his group, Claudionor Cruz e Seu Regional, in 1932, which worked actively in the accompaniment of artists in several radio and TV stations of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, rivaling Benedito Lacerda. He had musicians like Abel Ferreira and Bola Sete in his group. His first composition to be recorded (in 1935 by Augusto Calheiros) was "Tocador de Violão", which was a co-work with composer/arranger Pedro Caetano, with whom he collaborated for many years. He also had other illustrious partners like Wilson Batista, and recorded/performed with Orlando Silva, Francisco Alves, Araci de Almeida, and many other top artists. Claudionor Cruz worked on more than 400 recordings as a composer, drummer, and/or cavaquinho/tenor violão player.

One of the compositions by Claudionor Cruz worked out in collaboration with Pedro Caetano was the samba-cancão "Nova ilusão", recorded 1941 and featuring vocalist Renato Braga accompanied by Calaudionor Cruz e seu Reional. The tune was popular at the time and was later redicovered by Paulinho da Viola and recorded in one of his albums from the 1970s. You can listen to the original recording by Claudionor Cruz featuring vocalist Renato Braga using your right mouse botton to open the musicplayer in a new window by clicking here

I found a contemporary rendition of "Nova ilusão" uploaded at YouTube, here the vocalist is Ernesto Aun

Like Garoto, Claudionor Cruz took up the violão tenor to accompany singers, you can hear Claudionor Cruz playing this instrument on several recordings available at Instituto Moreira Salles, here is an example - the choro "Este choro e o meu pranto" featuring vocalist Gilberto Alves, recorded 1945. Use the same procedure as mentioned above to listen to the record, click here

To end this, here's a contemporary rendition of "Este choro e o meu pranto" performed by Marco de Pinna Quarteto as an instrumental featuring Marco de Pinna on violão tenor

Jo