Caterina Lichtenberg & Mike Marshall

Choro brasileiro! Amazing video from two virtuosos.

Nao me Toques is a composition from Zequinha de Abreu, whose Tico Tico no Fubá is known throughout the world. Many compare the choro – and its significance for recent Brazilian music, with the American rag-time and its importance for jazz. On the other hand, it is said that the primitive choro is similar to classical music, while the more recent choro is analogous to jazz, mainly in its potential for improvisation. An important characteristic of the choro, which distinguishes it from other current musical forms, dominated by a reductionist trend, where the melody plays a secondary role, is that the choro, with its broad melodic range, has a surprising harmonic variation. Thus, part of the choro’s appeal is that it allows a rich scope of variation-improvisations, as occurs in jazz. The soloists in the choro groups direct melodies at one another, each one making an effort to outdo the other through variations, in a kind of “musical challenge“.

After seeing this video, I got so excited, I went directly and bought their recording from iTunes (you can preview it below). Amazing!

And here is the official recording of Nao me Toques in iTunes and Amazon! The disc includes some additional very nice music. I am very fond of Violin Partita II in D Minor, BWV 1004: I. Giga and also Suite Venezolana, I Fiesta Criolla. It is excellent music from the two virtuosos.