Água de Vintém

Conjunto Àgua de Vintém

A young generation of musicians in Brazil keeps choro music and its long tradition well alive by playing the music of the old masters and further by adding new compositions and arrangements of previously unissued music to the classic repertoire. Among these dedicated young musicians I recently encountered the conjunto Água de Vintém while browsing various Brazilian web resources.According to the official website, Água de Vintém  was established in 2011 and all members are from Piracicaba of the São Paulo state. The original formation of the conjunto consisted of Vitor Casagrande (bandolim, violão tenor), Paula Borghi (violão), Guilherme Soares (violão 7 cordas), Saulo Ligo (cavaco) and Xeina Barros (pandeiro) while the present formation has replaced Paula Borghi with Marcus Godoy, who plays the violão 7 cordas, and Guilherme Soares now takes care of the violão. - Conjunto Água de Vintém has performed alongside established musicians such as Toninho Carrasqueira, Pedro Amorim, Alessandro Penezzi, Nailor Proveta, Toninho Ferragutti, Antonio Rocha, Achilles Moraes, Ronaldo Bandolim, Mauricio Carrilho, Alexandre Ribeiro, Cristóvão Bastos and Déo Rian. In 2013, the ensemble recorded its first CD for the Acari label, produced by Mauricio Carrilho.

CD front, Café da Dona Chica (Acari, 2013)

The CD has twelve tracks, eleven of them are compositions by members of the conjunto while the remaining is by Mauricio Carrilho, who also participates as a musician in the recording. Mauricio Carrilho ranks the ensemble as one of the best young choro groups. Quote: "I was struck by the synchrony with the space occupied by each instrument as well with the individual quality of each member always being used in favor of the collective language of the group. That makes a big difference and never decreases the individual brilliance of soloists and accompanists. The repertoire consisting of material by the young members, shows how the rich and mysterious language of choro is part of the essence of each of them. Rhythm, expressiveness, dynamics, improvisation, is a feast to the sound of this group. I consider Água de Vintém as one of the best ensembles in the new generation of choro musicians" (Mauricio Carrilho). - From the recording of the CD, here is the ensemble in consentrated action recording the title track, Café da Dona Chica 

As mentioned, the CD Café da Dona Chica  was recorded and issued in 2013, it is available here, and you have the opportunity to listen to some of the tracks at Sound Cloud, here 

CD front, Água de Vintém interpreta Sergio Belluco (AdV 001), Tratore, 2015

Last month Água de Vintém released its second CD, the above shown Água de Vintém interpreta Sergio Belluco. The CD has 14 tracks and the repertoire is solely devoted to previously unissued compositions by Sergio Belluco in arrangements by Água de Vintém. Sergio Belluco (b.1931) is a key figure in Piracicaba, where he has held the chair as a professor of the violão at important institutions and schools of music for decades. In the 1970s Belluco led his own conjunto Som Brasileiro, who had Alessandro Penezzi among its members for some time - Penezzi further was taught violão by Belluco and he also participates in the new CD by Água de Vintém in a couple of tracks. The material for the CD consists of compositions in the classic choro genre, and it's a sheer joy to be listening to the interepretation of the featured pieces by Água de Vintém - here's an uploaded example

The new CD by conjunto Água de Vintém is available for purchase  as download in mp3 format here - Below I'll insert a couple more examples of uploaded videos featuring music available at the CD. Here is Água de Vintém performing Sergio Belluco's Dialogando at the release concert of the CD (Rafel Toledo, percussion, is added to the ensemble)

From the same concert, here is Água de Vintém performing Melancólico by Sergio Belluco

I highly recommend the two issued CDs by conjunto Água de Vintém, the sound of the ensemble reminds me of the best recordings by classic choro ensembles like Época de Ouro and the conjunto of bandolinist Rossini Ferreira a.o.. It's great to experience that this tradition is being continued and taken good care of by the competent, young musicians who integrate the conjunto Água de Vintém!

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Jo

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