Desvairada

Garoto (Anibal Augusto Sardinha, 1915-55) was a multi-talented musician playing various fretted instruments: banjo, cavaquinho, bandolim, violão, violão tenor and hawaiian guitar contributing on numerous recordings with his always elegant fretwork both as accompaniment and as a soloist. He also composed several pieces for the various fretted instuments he mastered, among his compositions, however, a single one stands out as an example of his deep roots in the choro tradition - the valse-choro "Desvairada" (- meaning 'wild' in English). "Desvairada" is a three part valse-choro played in 6/8 and has the form: ABBACCA, the piece containing several examples of appegios in double timing, very intricate to master. Garoto recorded the piece in 1950 for Odeon on a 78 rpm playing the bandolim, a video at YouTube has the original
audio as soundtrack to still photography -



"Desvairada" has since become a touchstone for choro instrumentists to master, especially among guitarists allthough the piece originally was designated for the bandolim according to the recording by Garoto himself (- he never recorded "Desvairada" playing the violão, only the inserted audio above by Garoto is available). You may also listen to the original recording by Garoto in streaming audio at Instituto Moreira Sales or from the compilation cd shown below

As said, "Desvairada" has become a touchstone for choro guitarists, one of the first guitarists to cut his teeth on the composition transcribed for guitar was Raphael Rabello, who recorded the piece in a duo set-up together with Radamés Gnatalli on the shown cd below

Raphael Rabello also recorded "Desvairada" in a duet with Dino Sete Cordas and he always had the tune as part of his standard book in live-performance, here's a magnificent example of Raphael Rabello playing "Desvairada" in an informal and private setting



In 1991 Paulo Bellinati recorded a cd devoted to the guitar works of Garoto, among the 24 pieces transcribed for guitar by Bellinati also was a recording of "Desvairada", probably the best known interpretation of the piece copied by numerous guitarists ever since with the guidance of Bellinati's published score. At YouTube you can watch several videos featuring various guitarists struggling to master the piece, one of my own favorite videos has Yamandú Costa playing the piece in a near to impossible version, here documented from a live-tv spot



To end this small entry on a famous tune, I insert a video from a live-performance featuring Alessandro Penezzi (violão), Daniel Brito (bandolim) and Rogério Caetano (violão sete cordas) playing "Desvairada" in a trio setting, from a tribute concert to Raphael Rabello - enjoy!



Jo