Faz Tempo

When I first arrived in Brazil, one of my first experiences with live music was a roda de choro in the local square. Choro (or chorinho) originates from Rio de Janeiro and is an appealing mixture of Afro-Brazilian syncopation, instrumental jazz and 19th-century European dance music, including waltzes, polkas and quadrilles. Though it’s a traditional genre, maybe even predating jazz, there is a new generation of players who are rejuvenating this once old-fashioned style. Alvorada are a group of London-based musicians consisting of some natives and Brazilian expats who play mainly their own compositions but with an eye to adopting other rhythms and styles of Brazil. ‘Borbulhando’ is a bubbly samba with jazzy overtones and charming clarinet soloing. There’s the light-fingered flute playing of Rachel Hayter moving flightily around the cavaquinho playing of Jeremy Shaverin in ‘Chez Fred’ and Caetano Veloso’s homage to São Paulo, ‘Sampa’, recalls the commotion of the city with its four-way improvisations.