Jean-Maurice Mourat

El chôro de Pedro

The word chôro, also called chorinho, comes from the Portuguese verb "chôrar": lamentation, a genre of popular and instrumental music, which emerged in the 19th century in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It designates a kind of collective improvisation, of a sentimental character The "chôro" would take its name from the "chôries", small groups of Brazilian musicians, who lived by performing with their guitars and percussions, in the Brazilian countryside, at the end of the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, this folk style entered classical music with the Brazilian H. Villa-Lobos, one of the great composers of this century to introduce the chôro into his work. The chôro has a sometimes fast rhythm and rather joyful tones despite its name.