Brazilian
music comes in as many flavors as the tropical fruit sherbets we mention
in the Food & Drink section of our Web site. Don't feel intimidated
by the Portuguese words and names you will encounter. Read on and enjoy!
And listen to the sounds of the berimbau and the cuíca...
The Roots of Brazilian Music - Part I - The three major contributions
to Brazilian culture: Indian, Portuguese and African.
The
Indians
The Portuguese first arrived in Brazil
on April 22, 1500. (This occasion, like so many others in Brazilian history,
has been duly commemorated in a carnaval song.) We know quite a lot about
what they found, in musical terms, thanks to two extraordinary accounts
of the music of Brazilian aboriginals dating from the 16th century. The
French Calvinist pastor and writer Jean de Léry published in 1578 a book
called Viagem à Terra do Brasil (Journey to the Land of Brazil), in which
there were included illustrations, detailed descriptions of dances and
rituals, and transcriptions of some musical refrains of the Tupis. Gabriel
Soares de Sousa, a Portuguese colonist and chronicler, described in his
1587 treatise called Tratado Descritivo do Brasil the songs, dances and
musical instruments of several tribes. He says that the Tamoios "are great
musicians and dancers, and composers of improvised songs" and that the
Tupinambás "carry in their right hand a maracá, a gourd filled with pebbles."
Brazilian Indian
instruments still consist basically of those of percussion: rattles, drums,
etc. and wind: flutes, whistles, and horns. According to Marlui Miranda,
foremost authority on Brazilian Indian music, there's no Indian influence
in Brazilian popular music, even if their contribution to the language,
diet and character of Brazilians has been extraordinary.
The
Portuguese
Over
the centuries, simple folk, Jesuits and noblemen brought with them traditional
dances and dramatic dances like the Bumba-meu-boi, lullabies and nursery
rhymes, poetical and lyrical forms, and almost all of the basic musical
instruments we hear in Brazil today: flute, clarinet, cavaquinho, guitar,
piano, violin, cello, accordion and the tambourine. The cavaquinho, a
small guitar with four strings, was also taken to Hawai where it became
the ukulele. The first pianos arrived in Brazil in 1808, in the ships
that transported the entire Portuguese court to Bahia and Rio de Janeiro
following the invasion of their country by Napoleon Bonaparte.
One
word about the Portuguese language as it is spoken in Brazil. Very often
one hears people say that "it is very musical." It sounds very different
from continental Portuguese. It has nothing of the "skip all the vowels"
or as someone said "surfing from consonant to consonant" quality of the
language of the colonists. It has been softened and made mellifluous by
the African influence.
The
Africans
A Bahian in traditional dress
African
slaves, who began arriving in Brazil around 1538, contributed decisively
to the development of both rhythm and choreography (in dramatic dances
and dances like maracatu, lundu, cateretê, jongo and most famous of all,
the samba).
An extensive array of percussion
instruments is of African origin: all kinds of drums, from the atabaques
used in Afro-Brazilian religions to the surdo and tamborim of the samba
school bateria (percussion section); the agogô, two metal bells played
with a metal stick, and the cuíca. This unusual instrument is a small
metal barrel covered with leather in one end, having attached inside to
its center a short stick, which is rubbed with a piece of wet cloth to
produce the most extraordinary sounds (sometimes you may think you hear
laughter...).
Anyone familiar with Brazilian percussion will immediately also think
of the berimbau de corpo, a bow stretched by a wire, with an open gourd
attached to one end resting against the abdominal cavity for resonance.
The percussionist plays it with a stick while holding a type of rattle
in his hand. It is the main instrument used in the capoeira, an exciting
and beautiful Brazilian martial art of folkloric origin, which is one
of the greatest attractions for tourists visiting Salvador in Bahia.
Berimbaus
at the Mercado Modelo in Salvador.
These dances and
instruments were extensively depicted in engravings and watercolors by
European visitors during the 19th century. In a book published in 1835
by the German artist Rugendas, we see the lundu (a sensual forerunner
of the samba) being danced by slaves and the white middle class alike.
The process of acculturation
lasted about three centuries, and Brazilian music until the middle of
the 18th century remained folkloric or anonymous, none of it coming down
to us. With the lundus and modinhas (sentimental songs) composed by Domingos
Caldas Barbosa (1739-1800) we have the first documented popular music
of Brazil. The
Roots of Brazilian Music - Part II - From the 18th century "musica
de Barbeiros" (barber music) to the choro
Choro
- A Brazilian classic!
Anyone who studies
Portuguese will sooner or later come across the word "choro," which means
"weeping" or "crying." But how many people out there know that "choro"
is also a musical form? (Actually, some experts say that the name is meant
to suggest the impression of melancholy of certain guitar modulations.)
To read more about the origins of choro -- if you read Portuguese -- we
recommend you get yourself a copy of Henrique Cazes' Choro: Do Quintal
ao Municipal.
Primarily instrumental,
characterized in part by improvisation and virtuosity, with one or more
soloists, it originated in Rio de Janeiro in the 1870's. It was initially
a Brazilian way of playing European dance music, waltzes, polkas, etc.
Traditional instrumental groups consisting of two guitars and cavaquinho
- called "música de barbeiros", because the slaves who played in them
were also trained as barbers - had existed since the middle of the 18th
century. To those were later added the flute, clarinet and bandolim.
Hundreds of choro groups
(called "chorões") would spend the night playing for food and drink, in
private homes or botequins (described by someone as Rio's answer to the
French bistro). The young Villa-Lobos - having a very strict father -
used to escape through the window to join these musicians in the streets
of Rio... He would later compose a series of 14 Choros and call the form
"the essence of the Brazilian musical soul."
The first generation of
chorões includes the flutists and composers Joaquim Antonio da Silva Calado
Júnior - author of the beautiful "Flor Amorosa" (Amorous Flower) - and
Viriato Figueira da Silva. The pianist Chiquinha Gonzaga (1847-1935),
the greatest female composer of Brazilian popular music, wrote several
choros ("Atraente", "Corta-Jaca") which are still included in the chorões
repertory. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Chiquinha's birth, pianist
Antonio Adolfo released a "jazzy" CD of her compositions called Chiquinha
com Jazz.
Ernesto Nazareth (1863-1934)
left more than 220 compositions, including the classics "Apanhei-te Cavaquinho"
and "Odeon" (named after the cinema where he played the piano). Villa-Lobos
at the time was a cellist in the orchestra at the Odeon
and was apparently influenced by Nazareth's improvisational style. Other
famous composers of this time are Zequinha de Abreu, author of "Tico-Tico
no Fubá" (remember Carmen Miranda singing this song in the film Copacabana?),
and João Pernambuco who wrote "Brasileirinho."
Who is considered the greatest
choro musician of all time? Perhaps the flutist and saxophonist Pixinguinha
(1897-1973), born Alfredo da Rocha Viana Júnior. He is also the composer
of the unforgettable "Carinhoso" and other masterpieces - Ingênuo, Lamentos,
Um a Zero (1 x 0), etc. Pixinguinha and his group "Os Oito Batutas" were
the first to incorporate percussion instruments to choro and the pandeiro
(Brazilian tambourine) is still the rhythm base in traditional choro.
Chorões of a later generation
(1940's) are the bandolim virtuoso Jacob do Bandolim, author of "Noites
Cariocas" and leader of the famous "Época de Ouro" (Golden Era), flutists
Benedito Lacerda and Altamiro Carrilho, saxophonist Abel Ferreira and
the great master of cavaquinho, Valdir Azevedo. Valdir is the author of
the better known "Brasileirinho", the choro that Baby Consuelo and her
band performed - with a pop twist! - at the Montreux Jazz Festival, bringing
down the house. (I wish my CD had some notes about the musicians who played
with her that night. I suspect Pepeu Gomes, her husband, was the guitarist.)
The late 60's and the 70's
saw a revival of the choro - expanding from the jam sessions at the popular
Sovaco de Cobra botequim in the suburb of Penha in Rio - with a new generation
of musicians and composers: Paulinho da Viola, Déo Rian (who led the group
Época de Ouro after Jacob do Bandolim died in 1969), Joel do Nascimento,
Paulo Moura - even though he started much earlier, this is when he became
really famous - and Henrique Cazes belong to this time. In 1987 and 1988
some of these chorões, along with old master Altamiro Carrilho, recreated
the choro "rodas" or jam sessions from suburban Rio on the stage of its
Municipal Theater. The resulting CD, appropriately called "Noites Cariocas"
(Rio Nights) is a beautiful introduction to this fascinating musical genre.
In April of 1997, Brazil
celebrated the 100th anniversary of Pixinguinha's birth. We're happy to
report that choro is booming again, with a new generation of musicians
- like Nó em Pingo D'Água and Rabo de Lagartixa, to mention but two of
many groups - and legions of fans of all ages.
Brazilian carnaval
has its origin in the old Portuguese pre-Lent celebration known as the
entrudo. People celebrated by throwing little balls of wax filled with
perfumed water - and sometimes other liquids, as well...- at each other.
Anyone could be a victim of the celebrants: it is said that in the midst
of the revelry the Emperor Dom Pedro II was once thrown into a water tank!
But carnaval as it came to be celebrated in Rio de Janeiro started with
the first masked ball in 1840. In 1850 there was the first procession
with adorned floats, and after 1856 costumed revelers began taking to
the streets in great numbers. The first cordões (groups of all male revelers)
were formed in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1837, a Christmas rancho
(a group of men and women representing shepherds going to Bethlehem) started
another tradition by joining the carnaval celebrations.
Carnaval
Music
Until 1899
no songs were written expressly for carnaval, and people danced to music
of European inspiration with the exception of the cordões which often
paraded to Afro-Brazilian rhythms. It was in that year that Chiquinha
Gonzaga (1847-1935) wrote the marchinha "O Abre Alas" (Make Way) for the
group Rosa de Ouro, incorporating one of those rhythms. The marchinha
(little marching song, literally) was the perfect musical formula to which
the crowds could move in an organized fashion.
In 1917 the
samba appeared officially with the recording of Pelo Telefone (On the
Telephone). From its origins the new genre was closely linked to carnaval.
Stimulated by radio a whole generation of carnaval composers appeared
after 1920 and these would be responsible for all the great marchinhas
and sambas that continue to be popular today.
These marchinhas
were vehicles to eulogize women and to criticize politicians and certain
aspects of Brazilian life and mores. The lyrics were printed in pamphlets
or booklets and distributed to the public in the months before carnaval
so everyone could learn them by heart. In these early days carnaval was
a time of genuine fun for adults and children alike. There were automobile
parades downtown Rio, with tons of paper confetti and streamers, and people
went to the beach in elaborate paper costumes.
Fortunately
it is still possible to enjoy street carnaval with the groups called blocos
or bandas that are followed by thousands in the neighborhoods
of Rio. Some of these have whimsical or humorous names like Sovaco
do Cristo (Christ's Armpit, because participants live in the area
under the famous statue of Christ) or Simpatia É Quase Amor (Sympathy
Is Almost Love) from Ipanema.
The
escolas de samba
The
first escolas de samba were founded in Rio de Janeiro in 1928 (the short-lived
Deixa Falar) and in 1929 (Estação Primeira de Mangueira). These were neighborhood
groups of blacks and mulattos who wanted to make music and parade during
carnaval. The name school apparently has to do with the fact that there
was a real school nearby.
The first escola
de samba left as its legacy the introduction of the very large beat-marking
drums. In 1935 this parade was officially recognized by the government.
In the same year a group of sambistas (samba composers) founded Portela,
the most innovative of the original group of escolas. It introduced themes,
floats, the comissão de frente (front commission, usually the most honorable
personalities of the escola) and the separation of the public from the
parading dancers.
In the last
few decades, the parade has become the greatest attraction of carnaval
in Brazil and decidedly luxurious and gigantic. Some schools parade with
over 4,000 participants and more than 300 percussionists. Every school
has a theme and a samba (called the samba-enredo, or theme song) and is
divided in alas or units with huge decorated floats in between. The most
important individuals are the porta-bandeira (female flag-bearer) and
the mestre-sala (the male master of ceremonies, who accompanies her).
The puxador de samba or main singer stands on the sound float and sings
the theme song while his/her school parades, usually for about 90 minutes.
Carnaval
in Recife and Olinda
The heart of
carnaval in Recife and Olinda, in northeastern Brazil, is another musical
genre: the frevo, a highly syncopated, fast tempo march. It appeared in
1909 and derives its name from the verb "ferver", which means to boil.
Sometimes up to a million people, occupying each square foot of the streets
of those two cities, dance frenetically to large brass bands. The most
famous of these frevo groups is the Galo da Madrugada (Dawn Rooster),
so called because supposedly they are out at the crack of dawn on Saturday
morning, starting the 4-day madness in downtown Recife.
Carnaval in Salvador,
Bahia
In Salvador,
Bahia, two young musicians, Dodô and Osmar, introduced the trio elétrico
(electric trio, literally) in 1950. They played electrified guitars atop
a 1929 Ford and invented a new way of "doing" carnaval! Decorated trucks
that can cost up to half a million dollars now parade up and down the
hills of the city with the musicians on top, followed by hundreds of thousands
of celebrants. There are other manifestations of street carnaval in Salvador:
the afoxés or groups of candomblé (an Afro-Brazilian religion) devotees
who dress in white costumes and parade in a venerable manner to the sound
of large drums called atabaques, and the Afro groups of drummers and dancers
(Olodum, who recorded with Paul Simon, is one of these). The city of Salvador
has a beautiful Web site about their carnaval, which includes a comprehensive
list of blocos afros and blocos de trio.
information provided by http://www.maria-brazil.org/mpb1.htm