Music/Theater

Latin American Jazz Group Electrifies Audience in Richardson Auditorium

Nancy Plum

The Princeton University Music Department is apparently not the only department presenting concerts in Richardson Auditorium these days. For the past five years, the Program in Latin American Studies has also been sponsoring musical events on campus to further acquaint the Princeton community with the culture of Latin American countries and artists. One of the premiere Latin American musical groups, Choro Ensemble, came to Richardson on Friday night, and this quartet of artists treated the audience to a wide variety of Brazilian musical styles and songs.

The choro tradition, often referred to as the “New Orleans jazz of Brazil,” combines improvisation with a musical quodlibet of the Portuguese, French, Spanish and other cultural influences on the country of Brazil. The word “choro” itself, meaning “to cry” in Portuguese, refers to the jazz wailing qualities of the solo instrument of the ensemble, in Friday night’s case, a clarinet. Not totally unrelated to the classical music of the High Baroque in structure, choro is known for the virtuosity of its instruments combined with indigenous dance rhythms.

Although it was unclear how these particular artists came together, the four players of the Choro Ensemble made all of these qualities quite evident. Clarinetist Anat Cohen is clearly classically trained and can hang with the best of them in big band and jazz. Pedro Ramos, a native of Brazil, played the tenor guitar and the cavaquinho, a very tiny guitar-like instrument played on four strings. The bass of the ensemble was held up by Carlos Almeida playing the seven-string guitar and Zé Mauricio playing the pandeiro, a Brazilian frame drum resembling a tambourine. All of the players could have been considered virtuosi on their instruments, but Ms. Cohen in particular was a stand-out star, ripping her way through the Brazilian effects, jazz styles, and lightning speed scales.

The fifteen or so pieces the Ensemble played during the evening were largely based on jazz dance rhythms and syncopations. As in a jazz piece, each instrument took its turn at a solo within the piece. As Mr. Ramos explained to the audience, the joy of this genre of music is to “collect songs, learn them and play then with your friends.” The ease of the Choro Ensemble’s performance gave the impression that the players were sitting around a living room and playing, although they clearly had the path of each piece carefully mapped out.

There are evidently composers and arrangers collecting tunes currently for use in choro, and the Ensemble played several numbers transcribed from other instruments. The cornerstone number of the performance was a piece translated as “tasty” in English, in which the quickness of Mr. Mauricio on the pandeiro was most impressive. Throughout the evening, the four players were capable of producing quite a bit of sound and moved easily between slinky smooth tunes and virtuosic pieces which could rival Bach.

The audience in Richardson was more of the younger crowd than seen at classical concerts, with quite a few students. With the world becoming smaller through technology, it was refreshing to hear and see artists not only committed to a high level of performance but also dedicated to preserving an indigenous art form.

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