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GUITAR CHORO

part one

A select List of Recordings

Jørgen Larsen

My first encounter with the Brasilian choro played by Brasilians was right before a TV transmitted football match between Brasil and Argentina sometime during the mid-1980’ies. I was invited to watch the football match with an old friend of mine, and to celebrate the evening I had been to the library in the afternoon to borrow some records to be listened to before and after the TV match. To get into the right mood for the football match between the two South American rivals of the championship I thought it would be appropiate to have some Brasilian music to celebrate the supposed Brasilian victory of the match (- all odds counted thumps up for Brasil, and the Brasilian team actually won the match). While browsing the stack of records at the library I noticed a LP entitled “Choros do Brasil” recorded by a guitarist named Turibio Santos, and suddenly I knew instinctly I had to hear that record, immediately. I borrowed the LP and some other records, went home and put the “Choros do Brasil” LP on. That was it, the most beautiful guitar music I had encountered in a long time was streaming out of the speakers right into my open ears and soul! I was totally caught by the sound and performance of the music on the record. I played the LP twice before heading for the football match, upon arriving at once raving about the music I had discovered. Luckily, my friend shared my enthusiasm and that evening the both of us agreed we had been listening to the heartbeat and soul of Brasilian music.

Jørgen Larsen

What really struck me at first while listening to the “Choros do Brasil” LP was the nice impression of some joyful and lively music with a slight touch of melancholy and reminiscenses of a bygone romantic era, very balanced, melodious and extremely well performed. When I borrowed the LP at the library I had imagined the record to be a solo recital of Brasilian popular guitarmusic, so I was surprised to learn that Turibio Santos actually was accompanied by an ensemble on most of the tracks. This ensemble consisted of the 7 string Brasilian acoustic guitar adding elaborate bass lines to Turibio’s conventional 6 string concert/Spanish guitar playing the melody, while a cavaquinho player was throwing in short riffs and stoptime cords adding a subtle and syncopated yet very pulsing rhythm to the music, all sustained by the percussionist using tamborim or the Brasilian pandeiro. Altogether these very skilled musicians created a soundscape of great beauty, instantly captivating, and it was not until repeated listening I would recognise one single piece from another – all performances by Turibio and the ensemble had the same joyfulness or élan-de-la vie fortunately preserved into the grooves of the record.

Jørgen Larsen

Later on I learned that Turibio Santos is an educated and classical trained guitarist of high esteem with a glorious career in the classical field, headlined for concerts worldwide and involved in prestigious music related projects in his homeland besides writing books on the Brasilian guitar tradition, composing and still recording in between, further also leading masterclass guitar recitals by young talented musicians. I have listened to a couple of his recordings of classical repertoire by Bach, Scarlatti, Dowland and Villa-Lobos – the first impression of a highly skilled guitarist with a distinct personal touch remains. The “Choros do Brasil” LP was the first issued recording by this true master of the guitar, released 1977 by the French Erato label (ERA, 9155) while Turibio Santos was living in France, but the LP is recorded in Rio de Jainero. Unfortunately, to my knowledge this LP has not been re-issued, nor has the music been transferred to compact disc and released in that format by a record company, yet. Luckily, in 1979 Kuarup records of Brasil issued another recording by Turibio Santos with choro music, “Valsas e Choros”, which has the same setting as on the mentioned “Choros do Brasil”. The “Valsas e Choros” was first released in the LP format, but has been reissued on a CD (Kuarup, MKCD-001) and is still available. In 1997 the Visom label of Brasil released a CD of a live-recording of choro and choro related music by Turibio Santos, again accompanied by a very skilled ensemble altogether creating a true roda da choro fronting an enthusiastic audience. I don’t know, if this CD (VISOM, VICD 00094) is still available, but it is certainly worth searching. Thanks to my Dutch friend, Theo van de Graaff, I have had access to the mentioned CDs.

Jørgen Larsen