Clube do Choro Suíça
Paulo Almeida - Pandeiro
João Bastos - Flöte
Oliver Pellet - 7-saitige Gitarre
Floriano Inacio - Cavaquinho
Videos
Feat. Gabriel Grossi
Feat. Alexandre Ribeiro
Infos
About the Brazilian musical genre Choro
The beginning of choro is found in the formation of Brazilian urban popular music, reflecting the cultural, ethnic and socio-economic diversity of the cities, where the European musical genres of fashion were present. Quickly, the main European ballroom dances of the 19th century such as waltz, mazurka, polka, schottisch, contradança and quadrilha, among others, were easily adopted in all cities, small and large, passing with time through the process of transformation into local and national genres.
In this context, we find choro as the designation of an instrumental ensemble organized around the flute or other solo instrument, 7-string guitar, 6-string guitar, cavaquinho and pandeiro (percussion) forming a “Regional de Choro”.
The references of these “chorão” masters like the flutist Joaquim Antonio da Silva Callado, the pianists Ernesto Nazare and Chiquinha Gonzaga and the conductor Anacleto de Medeiros start in 1870 composing many pieces like polka, tangos, maxixes, xotes and marches establishing the pillars of choro.
The Brazilian musician Pixinguinha consolidated choro as a musical genre. Heir to all this musical tradition, he took the virtuosity on the flute and perfected the language of the counterpoint with his saxophone, organized countless ensembles like Os Oitos Batutas and became the greatest choro composer.
Choro acquired a virtuosic instrumental musical form, encouraging the execution of different rhythms and improving the musical qualities of the ear-accompaniers. The soloist challenged, trying to catch his accompaniers in his harmonic traps. In this way, they practiced trickery in the executions, demonstrating two characteristics that still accompany the Choro: improvisation and characteristic swing.
Soon after that, we found another designation for Choro, as a way of playing. Thus, choro was taken to musical, civil and military bands that were formed in the cities and it revealed a lot of popular musicians.
The bands were responsible for the musical education process of their members. With the chorões as masters, it was natural that there was a multiplier effect of the choristic culture, making more and more musicians who dominated the language emerge.
Today choro is known worldwide and very respected for its language, with several schools and teachers expanding to a universal language.
Clube do Choro Suíça
The Group emerges through the meeting of 4 musicians of great importance in Brazilian music, who live in Switzerland between Basel and Zurich. A cultural exchange then arises between these two cities and also between cities in Brazil; São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
The name Clube do Choro Suiça is created by the fact that it started a trajectory as a “choro quartet” and also with the idea of disseminating this music through classes, masterclass and concerts.
Formed by the traditional basic instruments for a “Choro Regional” Oliver Pellet on the 7 String Guitar, Floriano Inacio Junior on Cavaco, Paulo Almeida on Pandeiro and as a soloist João Bastos on Flute, the group composes this beginning of a long and pleasant journey.
In the repertoire the musicians add the personality and experience of each one by elaborating challenging arrangements with a lot of virtuosity, improvisation and all the melodic and rhythmic beauty of each genre with the compositions and influences of Pixinguinha, Jacob do Bandolim, Altamiro Carrilho, Waldir Azevedo, Chiquinha Gonzaga, Raul de Barros, Zequinha de Abreu, Hamilton de Holanda in addition to the author's own compositions.
Project
The Roda de Choro On Line Project arises from the idea of us musicians, artists and creators that we are in a delicate situation because we cannot exercise our mission in concerts with public, have a way of continuing producing and spreading the music with the same love for our listeners from anywhere in the world.
The connection between the delicate situation on Covid-19 and the reach ability of the internet to get our ideas out there, gave us the idea to propose a series of 5 videos with a musical exchange between Switzerland and Brazil.
Each video released by the group will have a special guest who lives in Brazil or somewhere else in the world, being he / she a great reference within the genre. These videos will be released within 10 days (each episode) through our communication channels on Youtube, Facebook and Instagran.
As a schedule we have great guests names like Hamilton De Holanda (Mandolin), Sergio Coelho (trombone), Gabriel Grossi (Harmonica), Anat Cohen from NY (clarinet) and Edu Neves (saxophone).
Biography
Floriano Inacio Junior
When he was just six-years-old, back in the 80s in São Paulo, Floriano Inacio Junior’s father gave him two toys: a small accordion and a tambourine. He put these aside until he came across another instrument six years later: the “cavaquinho” (ukulele). It was at this moment that he realized music was his calling.
It did not take Floriano Inacio Junior long to pick up a second instrument, the guitar, and he started performing at “rodas de choro”* and samba gatherings.
Through one of his colleagues, a pianist, he realized that he was blessed with a gift for piano playing and that he had a knack for it, so he started playing every evening in Santana, a neighborhood in the city of São Paulo. He even began developing an interest in jazz when he met one of his mentors, the maestro Louis Alba.
From the hustle and bustle of the traditional neighborhoods of São Paulo, the roots of samba, the sound of the cavaquinho to the platinelas of the pandeiro, and on his stylish piano, Floriano Inacio Jr. sailed the seven seas and crossed the Alps, ready to unveil and hone his musical skills and explore new musical rhythms.
He took his love and calling for Brazilian folk music with him wherever he went, with “jazz” and “samba-jazz” representing common denominators. He enhanced his musical knowledge at the European Conservatories of Music and across the different linguistic areas of Switzerland, both at the Geneva Conservatory of Music and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.
Oliver Pellet
Oliver Pellet is a guitarist, composer and teacher currently based in Switzerland. He was born in Brazil were he grew up and started his career as a musician. He started by taking private guitar lessons and attending workshops and festivals in south Brazil. Some of this teachers were: Aquiles Faneco, Mario Conde, Heraldo do Monte, Nelson Faria, Lula Galvão, Vittor Santos, and many others.
In 2009 he graduated Bachelor in Music at the Parana University in Curitiba. During this time he worked with some great musicians from the Brazilian scene such as: Proveta, Teco Cardoso, Lea Freire, Roberto Sion, Thiago do Espirito Santo, and many others.
In 2010 he attended a Summer Program at the New York University where he had the opportunity to study with great NYC musicians such as: Jonathan Kreisberg, Bruce Arnold, Tony Moreno, Mark Withfield, Ralph Lalama, Billy Drewes, Rey Abbasi, Lage Lund, among others.
In 2012 he moves to Europe to study with Wolfgang Muthspiel at the Hochschule für Musik Basel and graduates with excellence on 2014. During this time he studied with some of the best teachers of the scene such as: Guillermo Klein, Aydin Esen, Larry Grenadier, Alex Sipiagin, Domenic Landolf, Malcolm Braff and many others.
With two albums recorded Oliver continues to live in Basel with his new projects playing in several jazz clubs and festivals in Europe.
Paulo Almeida
Paulo Almeida is a drummer, percussionist and composer. An important reference in the new generation of brazilian instrumental music, he has already released four albums and gained recognition for the authentic way he plays and composes. He has performed at important festivals such as Brazil Instrumental, Savassi Jazz Festival, Jazz Ahead, Jazz a La Calle (Uruguay) and has shared stages with renowned artists such as Hermeto Pascoal, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Gabriel Grossi, Filó Machado and Leny Andrade.
Paulo participated in the formation 19/20 of the great global project called Focus Year Band that was conceived by the great musician Wolfgang Multhspiel in the Jazz Campus Basel. With this project he could play with musicians from all over the world and recorded the album called Arms Open with the participation of Guillermo Klein.
Almeida has 4 recorded copyright discs that counted on the participation of Hermeto Pascoal, Arismar do Espirito Santo and other great musicians. Today he lives in Basel and continues with his projects and teaching classes on Brazilian music and improvisation.
João Bastos
João Bastos was born in Rio de Janeiro and began his flute education when he was 17 years old at the musical academy Villa-Lobos in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 2002 he began his studies at the Institute of Music and Theater Zurich (Hochschule für Musik und Theater Zürich), from which he graduated in the summer of 2006 holding a concert diploma and a special award. One year later he received his teaching diploma.
He performs in different chamber ensembles such as the „Modern South America Ensemble“ and together with Edmauro de Oliveira as guitarist, forms the „Duo Brasilis“. He is also part of the group “Deu Choro” which since 2004 brings Brazilian music, especially the modern Choro, closer to the Swiss and European audience. The first Deu Choro album will be released in 2013.
João Bastos appeared as guest flutist in different ensembles and festivals, including the International Festival of Baroque Music in Juíz de Fora, Brazil, the Flims-Klang Festival in Graubünden, Switzerland, the Alumni Orchestra in the Tonhalle Zurich and the Ensemble Montalegre with the soloist Isaac Duarte, Philippe Litzler and Jean-Paul Garot. In 2011, João Bastos was invited to perform with the Carmina Quartett at the Lenzburgiade under the name “The Miracle Flutist from Rio plays Mozart and Samba”.