Ars inter Culturas 201 4 ● nr 3 Marcelo G.M. Magalhães Eastman School of Music University of Rochester Rochester THE BRAZILIAN CHORO : ITS HISTORY AND STRUCTURE Key words: Brazilian Music, Choro 1. The Genre Choro : the Development of the Basis of Popular Music from Brazil 1.1. The Roots of the Brazilian Music Choro is a musical genre from Brazil that arose in the late 19 th century in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The word choro means “a cry, a weep” in Portuguese. This name was associated in music with the expressiveness of its melodies and also indicated small in- strumental groups that played popular music in the ballrooms, based on the European dances, which were extremely popular in the city of Rio in the 19 th century 1. In order to understand the genre, its origins and its meaning within the Brazilian culture, it is nec- essary to have some knowledge of the history of Brazil, because the genre is intimately connected to it. Since its discovery by the Portuguese in 1500 until the 19 th century, Brazil was a ru- ral colony basically formed by native Indians, Black slaves brought from Africa, and Europeans. Musically, these three groups were responsible for the cultural manifesta- tions in the colony. Yet, the contribution to the Brazilian music from the Indians was very modest, if compared to a huge influence from the Africans, as stated below 2: It is important to point out that the symbiosis of African musical folklore with the dominating European cultural baggage was very slow and almost imperceptible in the first years of colonization. Everything that was related to the slaves was des- pised, and the progressive rise of the Mulattoes in the Brazilian society did not help the acceptance of the African population. Actually, it was the opposite; the Mulattoes in Brazil denied any relationship that could link them with their continent of origin. […] The slaves and their descendents (who were getting whiter at each generation) —————— 1 A.Z. Almeida, Verde e amarelo em preto e branco : as impressões do choro no piano brasileiro , Campinas 1999, p. 22. 2 All translations made by the author of this paper. 79 became the most significant players in the music field, since in that time the musi- cian was either an employee or a servant. Moreover, the evident musicality of the Africans lead them to be the ideal interpreters, and, in due time, the creators of the music that was being made in Brazil 3. The excerpt above indicates that the Africans had a very important role in the de- velopment of the Brazilian music. They did not impose their culture, but rather influ- enced the music with their musicality. One of the reasons is that they came from multi- ple locations, such as Angola, Congo and Yoruba, each with their own musical tradi- tions 4. However, once they had contact with the European music, they imprinted their culture by adding and developing it, thus creating the Afro-Brazilian variations from the European roots 5. The European influence in Brazilian music occurred in two ways: primarily, with the arrival of the Jesuits in the beginning of the colonization with modal music, which was constituted by plainchants and Renaissance’s music – since Europe did not have a tonal system at that time. This, combined with the tonal music from Europe (via Por- tugal) brought to Brazil later on, helped to shape and to structure the harmony and the melody of popular and folk-based music 6. The tonal music brought to Brazil from Portugal was in fact based on the music of Austria, Germany and Italy, since at the time Portugal had a very weak musical produc- tion as compared to these countries 7. The Portuguese also brought the rhythmic pat- terns that were developed by African descendents, as well as a huge variety of instru- ments – which include the basic Choro instrumentation: the flute, the guitar and the cavaquinho 8. 1.2. The Development of Brazilian Music As stated above, Brazil was greatly influenced by the music produced in Europe, whether popular or “classical”. According to Carvalho 9, the popular cultural manifesta- tions related to music in the first half of the 19 th century were divided into two groups: those originated in Europe and those originated in Africa. The European influence was more intense when the Portuguese court shifted the center of the Portuguese empire from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, escaping from the inva- —————— 3 V. Mariz, História da música no Brasil , Rio de Janeiro 1983, p. 34. 4 T.M.L. Cançado, An Investigation of West African and Haitian Rhythms on the Development of Syn- copation in Cuba Habanera, Brazilian Tango/Choro and American Ragtime (1791-1900) , Winches- ter 1999. 5 A.Z. Almeida, Verde e amarelo em preto... , p. 14. 6 Ibidem, p.13 . 7 Ibidem, p.14 . 8 According to the Michaelis Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa , the word Cavaquinho means: little guitar with four strings. Available at: michaelis.uol.com.br/moderno/portugues/index. php?lingua=portugues-portugues&palavra=cavaquinho (15.05.2012). 9 J.A.L.L. Carvalho, Os alicerces da folia: as linhas de baixo da passagem do Maxixe para o Samba , Dissertação (Mestrado un Música) – Iustituto de Artes, Universidade Estadual de Campinas 2006, p. 38. 80 sion of Napoleon. When the court arrived in Rio, they found a very small city, without any sanitation, “with the bare minimum of educational facilities, and without printing presses”, no libraries or museums 10 . As stated by Magaldi 11 , in 1808 Rio colonial set- ting “hosted a small aristocracy of wealthy landowners served by a majority of Blacks, Mulattoes, slaves, and freedmen, and only a thin stratum of middle-class workers.” Nonetheless, with the arrival of the court in 1808, Rio de Janeiro became the capital of the Portuguese worldwide empire. Thus, throughout the 19 th century, a series of chang- es were made in the city, including the opening of presses, libraries, theaters, improve- ments in illumination and pavement, and opening of schools, among other things. All these changes contributed to the development of music. In fact, the Portuguese court tried to replicate the European environment in Rio de Janeiro. The urge of “European things” had its source in the lack of a conscience of unity in Brazil; the “Brazilianness” that the Nationalism movement would bring in the first half of the 20 th century was at that time taking shape. Consequently, this availability of Eu- ropean “products” had an impact on the music of the colony as well. Among the various examples of popular and folk music brought by immigrants, there are Schottisches , Mazurkas , Waltzes, Habanera and Polkas . According to Cas- tanha 12 , “these dances […] have become so common as entertainment for the elite in Rio e, that they counted on the contribution of composers of the royal period, even though they were dedicated to opera and sacred music compositions”. This popularity created the perfect environment for the development of Brazilian musical genres. Another important historical fact of this period is that the printed music that came from Europe was generally printed for piano – it includes opera reductions, arrange- ments of arias for voice and piano, piano variations and fantasias of popular operatic tunes, and also piano reductions of European ballroom dances. In fact, Rio de Janeiro at that time “was an extremely profitable market for piano dealers and manufactures” 13 . Thus, the importance of piano in the development of the Brazilian music is substantial, since it was the only instrument used to transmit and re-create European culture through music. The profession of a musician was regarded as any other manual work. For this rea- son, the aristocracy working with bureaucratic, administrative, and intellectual func- tions despised music. In general, the music in Brazil was given, or performed by the Blacks and Mestizos . These men, who belonged to the low and middle classes, aimed to grow socially and for this reason, they incorporated to themselves the taste and the way of life of the upper classes. Nonetheless, they kept the traditions of their place of origin in the music due to their strong connections with the African culture, as well as with the European traditions brought by poor European immigrants 14 . Therefore, since the relationship of the upper class and music was restricted to con- sumption, the Blacks and Mestizos were responsible for playing the music, giving their African perspective to it. Their contribution with it occurred in two different ways: —————— 10 D.P. Appleby, The music of Brazil , Austin 1989, p. 29. 11 C. Magaldi, Music in Imperial Rio de Janeiro , Oxford 2004, p. XVI. 12 P. Castanha, A Modinha e o Lundu nos séculos XVIII e XIX , São Paulo: Instituto de Artes da Universidade Estadual de São Paulo, Handout from a course on the History of Art, p. 1. 13 C. Magaldi, Music in Imperial Rio... , p. 8. 14 J.A.L.L. Carvalho, Os alicerces da folia... , p. 38. 81 first, by following the traditions of Europe (playing the music for the aristocracy of Rio with very few musical liberties); and second, when having the chance to play for their own entertainment, they played and danced the European genres, approaching them with an African interpretation, which transformed the rhythms as time went by. 1.3. Specific Genres Related to Choro 1.3.1. Modinha As explained by Almeida (1999), before the appearance of the European dances in Brazil, the genre Modinha was very popular not only in the colony, but also in Portu- gal. This word is a diminutive form of Moda , which is a generic term for song or melo- dy.