Ademilde Fonseca - The Queen of Choro 90 Years Old

Earlier this month Ademilde Fonseca (b 1921), 'The Queen of Choro', turned 90 years old - an event that we also like to mark at this blog. Ademilde Fonseca was one of the first vocalists to actually sing choro, a remarkable contribution to this mostly instrumental genre of Brazilian music. She had her debut as a recording vocalist 1942 with "Tico-tico no fúba" - the well known composition by Zequinha Abreu with added lyrics by Eurico Barreiros accompanied by the regional/conjunto of Benedito Lacerda, a smash hit, which granted her the title 'Queen of Choro'. During the 1940s and 1950s she consolidated her success with vocal versions of popular choros and related music of the time, and she performed and recorded regularly with the cream of Brazilian top-musicians - even after her 80 years of age. A selection of her 78 rpm records is available at Instituto Moreira Sales and a discography of this output may be accessed here. - We have earlier published a career profile in English, still available here.


Ademilde Fonseca's 90 years anniversary and 70 years in show-business was celebrated in a TV hommage presented by journalist and music critic Tárik de Souza on the program MPBambas at Canal Brazil some days ago, and there has also been arranged a tribute concert in Rio with participation of choro musicians and 'The Queen of Choro' herself. Unfortunately, no video documentation of these events has been uploaded yet, but I found a video from an earlier performance featuring Ademilde Fonseca and Eimar Delvino Barreto in a vocal duet singing "Tico-tico no fúba" - enjoy it below!

It's great to know that choro music has been enriched by the vocal contributions of a great artist still going strong. Congratulations, Ademilde Fonseca!

Jo