João Paulo Albertim - Toca Pernambuco

The cavaquinho is a regular standard instrument in Brasilian choro and samba ensembles as well as in other musical contexts. Usually, the cavaquinho is not exposed as a lead voice, the small guitar shaped instrument is most often used as part of a rhythm section. However, the cavaquinho has also been treated with success as a lead instrument by great musicians like Garoto, Waldir Azevedo, Henrique Cazes, Luciana Rabello a.o..In the young generation of gifted Brasilian musicians, João Paulo Albertim stands out as a master of the cavaquinho, who combines his skills as an excellent instrumentalist with composing and arranging music that integrates various musical genres and timbres of the North East of Brazil.

João Paulo Albertim (b 1985) is from Recife, Pernambuco. He had his first instrument, a cavaquinho, at 13 and later started his formal education in music at the conservatory of Recife with guidance by Professor Marco César.During his training at the conservatory he evolved his skills as a cavaquinho player and had the bandola (- a kind of loud bandolim) as his second instrument.He also started composing and arranging and has taken part in various musical projects that have included recording with other local musicians besides being a member of various ensembles excelling in Pernambuco's rich music traditions. Earlier this year, João Paulo Albertim has released his first recordings under his own name - João Paulo Albertim Toca Pernambuco.

The design of this project with the musical direction of conductor Marco César was to demonstrate the possibilities of timbre combinations and stimulate integration and fusion of musical genres and rhythms of Pernambuco not much known in the repertoire for cavaquinho. The music contains examples of baião, xote, forró, frevo da rua, caboclinho a.o. and the production has lasted about two years involving the participation of many people with different background and compositions made available by João Paulo Albertim as well as other local musicians and composers. The project that highlights the cavaquinho in various musical constellations is released on cd and there are 13 tracks of exciting, delightful and well produced music to listen to. However, the actual cd  is hard to find, instead you have the opportunity to listen to all tracks in full length at Sound Cloud, here. You can also listen to some of the tracks at João Paulo Albertim's blog and find more info about the artist (- in Portuguese only). - To give you an impression of the music played by João Paulo Albertim I'll insert some studio performances uploaded at YouTube. Here is first the title track of the project,'Toca Pernambuco', João Paulo is accompanied by his present regular ensemble named Galho Seco after a composition by the legendary cavaquinho player Jacaré

 

Next, here is a studio recording of 'A Banda no Frevo', a composition by Marco César and with arranging and participation by saxophonist and bandleader Spok



Finally, to end this small presentation of João Paulo Albertim, here is his tip-of-the hat to Waldir Azevedo and his famous composition 'Brasileirinho' accompanied by Galho Seco



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