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Thread: Some Choros recorded by us

  1. #1
    aka aldimandola Michael Wolf's Avatar
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    Default Some Choros recorded by us

    Hello everybody,

    my seven-string-guitar playing partner and me have tried to record some Choros lately and though we´re still working on it, I´d like to share our latest results here. I hope you like it.
    Attached Files Attached Files

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  3. #2
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Very nice, Michael. I have been working on Brejeiro lately among others. I like the interplay between the two instruments. What mandolin are you using?
    Jim

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  4. #3
    aka aldimandola Michael Wolf's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Hi Jim,

    thanks. I´m using a flattop built by Jon Piguet from Switzerland. He combined characteristics of the bandolim with some ideas of his own. So it´s not a real bandolim, but goes in that direction.

    Click image for larger version. 

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ID:	81369 Bandolim from Switzerland

  5. #4
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Ah, yes, now I remember. Very nice looking instrument... sound is more mellow than I am used to from Brazilian instruments but very pleasing.
    Jim

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  6. #5
    aka aldimandola Michael Wolf's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Yes, the top has a different bracing than a bandolim and maybe this contributes to the more mellow tone.
    Here´s another one. "Valsa do Trovador" written by Cavaquinho player Luciana Rabello, I like this piece very much.

    Valsa do trovador.mp3

  7. #6
    Registered User Amy Burcham's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    These cuts are REALLY nice, Michael. Great sound from that mandobando! You guys have the feel. Thanks for posting them.
    *mandolin mind, beginner mind*

  8. #7
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    I love that waltz and beautifully played, Michael! In fact I love many of the choro waltzes as well as those Venezuelan ones.

    You are really lucky to have a guitar-playing partner. No one near me plays this music, tho Dudu will be coming to New York Coty so I will get my dose of choro later next month.
    Jim

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    Registered User Bruce Clausen's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Well done, Michael! Nice playing and very nicely recorded.

    Do you still have the larger group as well?

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    Registered User DSDarr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Very nice playing! I really like the sound of the mandolin as well. That is the first time I have heard "Valsa do Trovador" -- what a great piece! Is there sheet music available somewhere for it?

    thanks, David

  11. #10
    Registered User Doug Hoople's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Nice recordings, Michael.

    I LOVE 'Valsa do Trovador'! I'm really glad to see it getting some exposure. I used to play it a lot in the Bay Area, with Ron Galen on 7-string, who played a really ravishing version of the guitar part.

    It's from Luciana Rabello's album, "Luciana Rabello," on Acari Records, released in 2000, if memory serves, as one of a group of six or so early Acari albums. Those albums are treasures. "Luciana Rabello" and "Arranca Toco" are both required listening from that series, and are personal favorites of mine. In my travels, I've discovered that "Luciana Rabello" is a personal favorite of a lot of musicians and aficionados.

    There are two published volumes, entitled "Cadernos de Choro, vol 1 & 2," containing leadsheets for that early group of Acari albums. One has a red cover, the other a blue. The "Luciana Rabello" album is covered in the red volume, and that's where you'll find a leadsheet for 'Valsa do Trovador.'

    Good luck finding them. They went out of print a few years back, as Acari refocused the company on traditional choro masters, many pre-Pixinguinha, publishing their epic five-volume "Principios do choro" and producing companion recordings.

    Although it was never formally acknowledged, it seems to me that the Acari principals (Mauricio Carrilho, Luciana Rabello, Pedro Amorim, et al) deprecated their own work and took their Cadernos de Choro out of circulation. That seems nuts to me, because those books contain some of the finest modern choros around, and tunes like "Velhos chorões" and "De Bem Com a Vida" and "Choro em Paris" are starting to get played more widely in rodas both in Brazil and internationally.

    "Valsa do Trovador" is also bubbling just below the surface as an underground favorite. It's a bit harder to get it played in a roda because the percussion players get restless.

    I don't know how you can find the "Cadernos de Choro" any more. It's possible, though, that they were put back in circulation as interest in this music has started to take hold. Tom Pinit wrote me from Rio about a year ago to tell me that he was actually able to find them in one music store, which wasn't the case when I was there two years earlier. But you'll have a terrible time finding an Internet source for them. Tom, if you're reading this, chime in!
    Last edited by Doug Hoople; Jan-24-2012 at 6:52pm.
    Doug Hoople
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Beautiful!

  14. #12
    aka aldimandola Michael Wolf's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Thanks very much for all your kind words. Your feedback is most appreciated.
    And yes, I´m very lucky to have such a guitar player here were I live. We have a very good brazilian seven-string player here in town, Christiano Fischer, and my partner took lessons from him to learn his style (seven strings, playing bass lines with thumb pick). As he´s a pro classical guitar player he learned it very fast. It happened that he could use me to practice the tunes and vice versa. So we meet every week for some time now. That way the repertoire grows fairly fast.

    Bruce,
    nice to hear from you. I don´t have the larger band anymore. But instead this even better guitar player for Choro. Then I have a trio for portuguese music, Alma Lusitana. It´s a singer, guitar and mandolin and we play different pieces from the portuguese-speaking cultures, as Capo Verde, Choros, Bossas and some Fado. In addition our singer is melodizing poems by Fernando Pessoa as well as some medieval ones from Portugal.

    Thanks Doug, for the background information on Valsa do Trovador and Luciana Rabello. I don´t have the complete recordings of her, unfortunately. One other very nice piece from her that I´ve learned is "De Bem Com a Vida". Maybe we´ll record it next time.

  15. #13
    Registered User Bruce Clausen's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Thanks for the link, Michael. I hope we'll be able to hear some of Alma Lusitana's music soon too.

    "Lobinho do Bandolim"— that's a great handle for you!

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    Registered User DSDarr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Thanks for the interesting and informative answer Doug; I guess I will have to ask around among other choro aficionados here in the Pacific Northwest. And thanks again to Michael for sending this great tune. It is always great to run across a new tune that really grabs you -- and "Valsa do Trovador" is definitely one of them for me. Another great new find for me is the tune "Eu Quero é Sossego" from Tim Connell and Mike Burdette's newest Rio con Brio release, Caprice.

    -David

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    Registered User Doug Hoople's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Wolf View Post
    One other very nice piece from her that I´ve learned is "De Bem Com a Vida". Maybe we´ll record it next time.
    That's the one that seems to get played the most. It's very much along traditional choro lines, so not too big a departure for most rodas. Great tune, and a crowd-pleaser, too. It's the opening cut on the "Luciano Rabello" album. Grupo Falso Baiano from the SF Bay Area have recorded it not once, but twice (!), and it's one of their signature numbers.
    Doug Hoople
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    Market Man Barry Wilson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Some beautiful playing there. The Brejeiro is my fav piece of those but they are all wonderful to listen to. I love this site for this stuff, hearing people play, and when done so well man alive.

  19. #17
    aka aldimandola Michael Wolf's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Bruce,
    "Lobinho do Bandolim" was a joke at first. Our guitar played had his name "Jorginho" (Georg) for many years, as he plays Brazilian music for a very long time and people gave him that name. We other two only had our german names and we thought we should do something against that.

    Here are some Alma Lusitana files:
    Attached Files Attached Files

  20. #18
    aka aldimandola Michael Wolf's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    David,
    "Eu Quero é Sossego" is also a favorite of mine and it seems to be very pleasing to many people, as we found out when we played it in public a few times.

    Doug,
    "De Bem Com a Vida" is really fun to play. As far as I know Luciana wrote it for Pedro Amorim. This is written on the sheet music that I have. Yesterday I learnt that the guitar palyer of my portuguese band has the "Luciana Rabello" album. I´m very excited to hear it.

    Pipeous,
    thanks for your comment. Brejeiro is a wonderful piece, as many of Ernesto Nazareths compositions. I often wonder how he would like his music being played on plucked instruments, since he played his music on the piano. Lately there was a little radio feature about him in a german radio programm and they played the only know recording of him. It was only one piece, Apanhei de Cavaquinho. He used to play his music in the cinema as opener for the films.
    Last edited by Michael Wolf; Jan-26-2012 at 8:25am.

  21. #19
    aka aldimandola Michael Wolf's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    We recently had a choro gig at a culture club and one of the organizers of the club is always making a little film of their events. I thought I`d share it here and put it in this old thread of mine. Didi`t post anything in a long time.


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  23. #20
    aka aldimandola Michael Wolf's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Sorry for this, this was a joke. It looks like I can´t embed the video here. It seems to be privat, but I did´t realize it. I can see it on my computer, but you see the Hamilton video. As much as I would like to be Hamilton in this video above, I´d rather remove it and not confuse people. I´ll ask the man who made the video for permission and if it´s possible I embed the right one later.

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  25. #21
    aka aldimandola Michael Wolf's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Wolf View Post
    Sorry for this, this was a joke.
    Sorry again, this was of course not a joke.

  26. #22
    aka aldimandola Michael Wolf's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Here is the video that I wanted to show initially. Sorry for the confusion.


  27. #23
    Registered User Bruce Clausen's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Excellent, Michael! Fine playing by all concerned, and nice production and editing. I'd have been glad to hear complete tunes instead of excerpts, but I think that end of it was out of your control.

    Hope we'll get to hear more of this band!

  28. #24

    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Maybe someone can see about putting copies of some of the out of print stuff mentioned above up on a service like ScribD.
    Al in PT

  29. #25
    aka aldimandola Michael Wolf's Avatar
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    Default Re: Some Choros recorded by us

    Thanks a lot for your comment, Bruce. And sorry for answering late, somehow I forgot to look into this site for a while.
    We made some quick recordings lately. Unfortunately we had very little time together and I hope we will have the opportunity to record again soon. And maybe some better rehearsed versions of these tunes.


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