THE GUITAR IN
LATIN AMERICA:
A PERSONAL VIEW
by Carlos Barbosa-Lima
as told 10 Peter Danner
L
ATJN AMERICAN GUITAR MUSIC IS AN EXTREMELY
large and varied topic. It can be heard all over
the continent, from Colombia and Venezuela
in the north, to Argentina and Chile in the south. All of
these countries inherited the Portuguese and Spanish­
speaking traditions of their European colonizers, and
the guitar bas remained an integral part of those
cultures. I think it is important to keep in mind that the
instrument is part of the daily lives of those people.
Since colonial times, the people of South America have
played the guitar in one way or another-to accompany
songs and dances, to celebrate hoHdays, or to do some­
thing. Out of this a large cult of the guitar has devel­
oped. It has been incorporated into popular dance
forms and all kinds of manifestations, and many skill·
ful types of playing have evolved. The reason this did
not happen in the United States during the 19th
century was that there was much less interest here in
the so-called classical Iberian traditions.
By the tum of the 20th century, political and social
transformations in the world led an incredible wave of
Spanish masters to South America. AB a result of the
Spanish-American War in 1898, Spain suffered consid·
erable economic setbacks, and many people were forced
to flee. Their choice was either to come to the United
States or South America, and it was to Latin America
that most of these emigr�s turned. Argentina was
economically one of the most promising countries at
that time, and it also had a good cultural climate. So
Buenos Aires was one of their best options.
GFA Soundboard
10
Another was Havana. Cuba gained its indepen·
dence at the end of the last century as a result of the
Spanjsh War, so it became an option too. Havana was
a kind of gateway for Spanish culture in this part of the
world. You had guitar makers and musicians going
there, and sometimes they would pass through Havana
on their way to South America. One of Tlirrega's stu­
dents, Pascual Roch, for example, went to Cuba.
But somehow, it was Buenos Aires that attracted
them most. It earned a reputation as the place to try
out the new frontier. I think teachers made this choice
partly because of their affinity to the language, and
sometimes they'd have a relative or friend already
living there. A number of teachers and makers had
already settled there, so the guitar was flourishing.
Gaspar Sagreras was living in Buenos Aires as early as
1860, Juan Valier in 1878, and Juan Crusans a few
years later. A number of guitarists also went there on
tour. Granados, for instance, went to Argentina with
AntonioJim�nez Manj6n, the bHndguitarist who played
a multi-string guitar-I think it had ten or eleven
strings. He had received great reviews in Spain. My
teacher, Isaias Savio, heard him sometime around
1918. Manj6n eventually settled in Argentina.
There were other important people down there, too,
like Antonio Sin6poli-he wass an important fellow­
and Julio Sagreras. I think Sagreras was important in
connection with Argentina. Then there was Domingo
Prat. Prat was a man of Renaissance culture. He was
financially well off; he had plenty of money and as a
Spring 1992
 udent of Tarrega, was an important. link with the apparently had a very good teacher who belonged to the
panish tradition. tradition of Magin Alegre (Llobet himselfbad been one
So you can see that the guitar had already been of Alegre's students). There were apparently some
ourishing naturally inside South America since colo- teachers with that kind of approach who had gone to
times. But I believe from the mid 19th century South America. So Barrios with his gift probably-I'm
wards the latter part it flourished more because just guessing from my teacher's information-took
pie gradually studied it more. some lessons in Paraguay from one of Alegre's stu­
The principal South American countries for the dents, and then went to Buenos Aires with his parents
tivation of the guitar as a serious instrument in the to study the Alegre method more fully. Barrios was a
ly stages were, I would say, first Argentina, then phenomenon. While all these people were coming to
Uruguay, and gradually Chile. But some of the others South America, he was aJready there playing, and he
·ght have taken more time to absorb it. The guitar was playing classical material, plus music inspired by
-was a little bit behind in Brazil, I think. We Brazilians folk dances and folk forms.
bad our own regional love for the instrument going way
back. For instance, there bad been a Brazilian musi­
cian by the name of Manoel Botelho who had gone to
J,isbon as far back as 1750. He is reported to have
�tten sonatas for the guitar. But there were actually
�ery few people teaching. Apparently they were very
isolated. There might have been teachers in Rio, and
maybe one or two in the North.
We have been talking about the years before Llobet
became based down there, which I think was the
biggest influence of all. Miguel Llobet had travelled to
America around 1912 and actually lived for a while in
Argentina. Llobet was a great revelation because of his
musical status. His standard was so high that. he
immediately became an inspiration to them. Appar­
ently he had contacts to come back after thatr-with the
roximit.y to Uruguay and Chile and the other coun­
tries, it would have been very easy to book concerts­
but then war broke out in Europe in 1914.
Llobet did visit Brazil once in 1916 or so, and then
Argentina, where he found a haven with the Anido
family. There was a Spanish guitarist there by the
name of Josefina Robledo. She had been one oIT6rrega's
pupils and was supposed to have one of the most perfect
tremolos of all time. That was her big thing, but she Carlos Barbosa-Lima
p1ayed very sweetly. Savio heard her in Montevideo,
but she made a special trip ,to Rio; apparently it con­ Savio said he heard Barrios in the Teatro Solis in
cerned some of her husband's business connections. Montevideo sometime aft.er 1912, which means Savio
She taught a man called Oswaldo Soares. Soares is would have only been around 12 years old at the time.
important because be published the first book for t.he The concert. was a big, big success. At the time, Savio
guitar in Brazil. It was a fairly good book of about 60 was living in Buenos Aires and had traveled to Uruguay
pages, with exercises that were supposed to be from to be there. The proximity of Uruguay and Argentina is
Tlkrega's tradition, and then music like Bach's little very close. Uruguay, you know, is a fascinating little
Prelude for lute, and a combination of pieces. It was the country. It's smaller than the state of Sao Paulo, yet it.
first book I became acquainted with. Soares later has produced an incredible affinity for the guitar in
became an arch-enemy of Savio, because Savio's teach­ terms, not only of good teaching, but good players.
ing was much better than his. Traditionally it has always been a kind of a center for
Later on, after the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, guitar-that and soccer . Montevideo attracted many
!Argentina would again became a natural haven for people because of its beautiful beaches. There was a
�panish exiles. But, in the meantime, Agustin Barrios kind ofEuropean charm to the city, that it actually kept
was already there. Barrios was a native of South pretty much for a good part of this century. It preserved
America, and, according to my teacher Savio, had some of those laid-back places. I have many Uru-

GFA Soundboard Spring 1992

11
guayan friends who have a great affinity with Brazil.
They have customs that are very similar to the ones in
the southern Brazilian states, especially Rio Grande do
Sul.
That wave of teachers going to South America was
very important, and I believe some of them came to the
United States too. I think the tours of Llobet and
Segovia were important and especially the movements
of Agustin Barrios, because Barrios travelled all over
South America in the teens. He was in Brazil where
Villa-Lobos apparently heard him and was very much
taken by his playing.
There is a program published in one of the old
Brazilian magazines showing that Barrios played a
concert, I think it was in 1916, in which be shared the
program withCatulloCearense, the marvelous Brazil­
ian songwriter. I arranged a lot ofCatullo's music back
when I was in my teens. Catullo was the first one to
popularize the modinh.a, which is a Brazilian form of
soft love song, gallant and contemplative, not like the
fados of Portugal which are very sad and bitter. Ours
have a different sweet sadness. Catullo was a guitar
player, too, since he created his own style, and was
completely self-taught. He came from the North of
Brazil, Maranhao, a rather desolate region without
any trees. He came to Rio in the late part of the 19th
century with his guitar, accompanying songs. I believe
that might have been one of the oldest forms of guitar
accompaniment coming from Iberian roots, but he had
developed a style that is still influential today. He
played a concert in Rio as early 1908 that was spon­
sored by the Brazilian government-the President
actually-Hermes de Fonseca. lncidently, the
President's wife, the First Lady, had studied the guitar
in France in the last part of the 19th century with
somebody who had studied with NapoleonCoste. There's
an interesting connection there. When that happened
it was probably the very first official concert with
somebody playing the guitar in Brazil. Of course, the
enemies of the government began to blast it: "Even the
guitarists play there." That was a very important time
for Brazilian music. Don't forget that form of song
accompaniment had a direct appeal to people, and then
we had the arrival of the chOros.
I have to talk a bit about the chOros because it's a very
important aspect of Brazilian music, and definitely the
guitar was involved from the begin of it, the native and
principal instrument there for that form. At the begin­
ning of his career, Villa-Lobos was a ch6ros player; that's
how he started, as a vagabond going around playing,
hanging out with people, and that's how he started
discovering Brazilian roots in terms of music forms. By
the late of 19th century, as I said, the guitar was already
appearing, here and there, isolated, and it was emerging
in the cities as well. The chOros began to occur with people
GFA Soundboard
12
getting together-you had something similar in the
United States, I believe, with these serenaders, where
they used to play in a jamming format and people were
supposed to improvise counter-melodies or counter­
rhythms-but the Brazilian style flourished in such a
way that all the instruments could take part with what­
ever you had. Even the baajo was down there at the
beginning of the century. Anybody with creativity and
willingness to take part in a format like that would play
the chOros. I believe that has a little bit of a baroque touch
too, because Brazilian music has a great connection with
the baroque: Bach and all that. This is why the Bachianas
occurred. There are all kinds of baroque touches in our
music and that countrapunto naturo instinct for accom­
paniment. Anyway, the ch8ros started like that.
But in the meantime, Barrios was
already there playing, and he was
playing classical material, plus music
inspired by folk dances.
People would use waltzes also. l was still able to see
that format during one of my early trips to the interior
of the country. A group of serenaders once woke me up
in the middle of the night with their music. Unfortu·
nately, that tradition is dying now, except for small
groups trying to keep the tradition alive. So they would
come wake you up with a beautiful piece, and then they
would go to some other place. There would be a flute, a
guitar, maybe a cello too. Well, maybe the cello is too
heavy to carry in those places. This is why the guitar
has such a great appeal. But eventually you might find
a cello group. You might find the banjo, or that little
four-string guitar the cauaquinho.
But to get back to the very early part of this century,
I think Villa-Lobos was absolutely the major influence
not only in Brazil, but for the entire continent. I think
he gave the guitar a major status in the Americas.
Today people are beginning to realize his importance.
He was not the first classical guitar composer, of
course, but we don't have too many with the great level
of creativity that he had. In our days things are chang­
ing, but Villa-Lobos played the guitar, and according to
tradition he learned how to play the cello on bjg own. He
wrote his Suite Populo.ire Bresili.enne very early in the
20th century. The Suite was the result of an interesting
phenomenon happening around the last part of the
19th century towards the beginning of this one: Euro·
pean forms gaining a place in Brazilian forms, merging
with Brazilian forms. This is why he wrote a Waltz
Ch8ro, a waltz in the ch6ros style, and a Mazurka
ChOro. All these European forms gained a much more
Spring 199Z
laid back feeling in our music. There is also a Schottishe,
and then there is the Polka. The polka was very popular
down there at the turn of the century. And you find
pther forms because there was some immigration from
�astern Europe also in the middle of the 19th century
�the southern part of Brazil, from Russia, Germany
what are now the Slavic countries. These forms
E
e, and they began to merge with our own flourishing
ure. Because most traditional Brazilian forms are
modin.ha and the lundu, which has a little bit of the
African ring and very contrapuntal too . So developing
forms mixed.
d whose first wife, Joanne, did incredible research on the
' came convinced that even my family has an Azorean
I
'
Heltor Villa-Lobos
I believe Villa-Lobos was very attracted by the
guitar. According to Savio, there had been somebody
teaching in Rio using the Aguado method by the late
19th century. There were not many teachers then,
maybejust one or two, and apparently there was one in
northern Brazil. (You can imagine only two people
t�aching with some sort of a method book!) l believe
that Villa-Lobos with his genius probably had some
contact with this person, but then really studied oo his
own. According to his own memoirs and from state­
ments he made while he was alive, he pretty much
figured out all that counterpoint from Bach and the
great masters of the past. Already in the early works of
the Sui� Populaire you can see him exploiting an
incredible amount of inner voicings, all these move-
GPA Soundboard
13
ments, and counterpoint here and there. You can al­
ready see a different kind of approach instead of the
vertical harmonic structure.
There were some other people who played the guitar
by ear. When Savio arrived in Brazil in 1930, he meta few
of these musicians. He said it was hard to find anyone
playing bad music; he was astonished tbat there was so
much creative playing without any schooling at all. One
of them was JoAo Pemambuco-a nickname that refers
to his native State in the northeast; his real name was
Guimaraes. Apparently he was a fantastic player. There
are recordings of him made in 1928 and 1929 for the
Brazilian RCA Victor. His playing was very, very clean,
not common among players of those times. You can hear
in Pernambuco's playing a certain level above the usual
player. But there are also traditions of another great
player, Satiro Bilhar, a good friend of Villa-Lobos and
Ernesto Nazareth. According to Savio, Satiro Bilharwas
great chorao. This is a good word to use, chorao; in Por­
tuguese it means you play chOros and you are big to do
that-you're "chorAo," which has a double meaning­
you "cry" about it-a very sentimental connotation. In
general the word cMros means "to cry"; that's the ety­
mology, because you're suppose to go and express to your
loved one. You serenade a girl beneath her window and
at one point you might see her or get her father throwing
you something wet and not pleasant.
The Brazilian love song has a sweetness that is
different from the fado. I think it came more through
the Azores, that happier, natural state of mind of the
old serenaders. I have discussed this with Ron Purcell,
old Portuguese influence from the Azores, and I be­
linkage. So, coming from that region, the Islands, there
was a different kind of sweetness, gallantry, poetry. It's
still very sad. The guitar was always there.
Until very recently, the uwla was still quite common
in the countryside. That's the old expression for the
guitar-from vihuela, with five double strings. That's
the way it was brought to Brazil, and it stayed there
until now-it may be dying out a little bit-but in the
countryside, the five double strings with the different
tunings. Sometimes you have a couple of strings in
octaves-a very interest approach-sometimes tunings
with the thfrd in f-sharp; sometimes you have like a G
tuning related to the slack-key guitar. These can all be
traced to the Portuguese. In the meantime, they brought
the ukulele to Hawaii in the 19th century, and the
cauaquinho to Brazil. These all have the same roots,
the idea of a high-pitched guitar, but in Brazil the
cauaquinho also became part of the chOros, and the
Brazilians began using both a plucking style and a
plectrum style-finger and pJectrum--ancl more of a
punteado style instead of just strumming. The ukulele
Spring 1992
in Hawaii is primarily strumming, at least that's the
tradition, although I've seen great players combining
strumming and plucking.
There were also a number of pianists that need to
be mentioned. One of the early pianists to have an
impact in Brazil was Louis Moreau Gottchalk (1829-
1869). He was born in New Orleans, so he would have
known something about the Caribbean mix there. I
still think the closest thing I can find in the United
States in terms of affinity with Brazilian music is New
Orleans, because of that cross-cultural Afro-European
blend. Gott.chalk went to Chile in 1866 and stayed
there a full year. He was a fantastic pianist, admired by
the European masters, and when he arrived in Rio in
1869 it was a big shock because people not only heard
a great player, but also one playing something that
related to them. He stayed in Rio the rest of his life and
died there. There are rumors that he was enjoying life
too well down there.
Now I have to talk a bit about Ernesto Nazareth
(1863-1934), who demonstrated a gift. for music at a
very early age. One of his traditional pieces is called
Brejeiro (Mischievous) and was a big hit in Brazil in
1880. He was a pianist, but echoed other things as well.
You can see in his music that the piano is like a little
echo of other sounds. This is why a lot of his works are
very adaptable to the guitar. The music of Nazareth
had a big impact in Brazil. He was also fond of Chopin,
so he began to create beautiful Brazilian waltzes on a
very high level, like a Brazilian Chopin. He was ad­
mired by people like Villa-Lobos who dedicated the
Ch6ros No. 1 to him. Nazareth went on to produce so
much, and he became more and more appreciated.
There were other people of his time. There was a
lady in Brazil who was the first important woman
composer, Chiquinha Gonzaga-Francisca Hedwiges
Gonzaga (1847-1935). She also left some beautiful
music. Nazareth dedicated works to her, and he dedi·
cated works to Satiro Bilhar, the guitar player, which
definitely shows that the guitar influence is there.
Nazareth dedicated a piece to Bilhar called Tenebroso,
which means "Very Scary," and it's really a guitar
piece.
Nazareth's influence was very strong, and 1 believe
be finally received the sort of artistic recognition he
deserved during his lifetime, although it was a long
time coming. In the early part of the century he used to
play in movie houses, the silent movies. It happened in
1922 through Villa-Lobos' great influence, when Brazil
was celebrating its firstcentury of independence. There
was a very important event in my home town of SAo
Paulo called a "Week of Modern Art" in which many
things happened: sculpture, painting, literature-it
was almost like a cultural declaration of independence.
That week was fantastic. A lot of the rich people from
GFA Soundboard
14
the emerging industries in SAo Paulo went there.
Industry was realJy starting to flourish; there was
some money to spend on the arts, so the event became
the first important arts festival to be sponsored by
private organizations. It created a very important
wave, I think, for things that happened later in other
parts of South America. Villa-Lobos was definitely a
major figure there. He had a out-spoken personality up
also wrote great music. Nazareth took part in the
event. He was already getting on in years (he had been
born in 1863), but he was finally able to get some kind
of public recognition. My dear friend and one of my
musical mentors, Guido Sant6rsola, who lives in
Montevideo, heard Nazareth in his early years and
really associates his childhood in Silo Paulo by hearing
that music.
Speaking ofSant6rsola, I have very fond memories
of him. He was actually my mentor in the early '60s
when I had the project of arranging a series of songs by
Catullo Cearense. Like Nazareth, another thing that
brought Sant6rsola memories of his early years was
Catullo's music. With his experience, I had already a
kind of aesthetic approach I wanted to explore in those
songs and he coached me harmonically. It was the first
important step, I think, in creating the same style of
arranging that I'm applying today when I'm doing
Jobim and other composers.
Nazareth for me was before that. Another musical
mentor of mine who was also self taught in music-a
very fine composer in Brazil and a man of Renaissance
culture (he could talk to you about anything)-was
Theodoro Nogueira. He was recommended to me by
Maestro Savio. I was learning sort of fast, and Savio
thought it would be more practical for me not to go to
the conservatory, but to a local teacher who would act.
as a special kind o f a stimulant, to treat me as an adult.
I was only 12 years old at the time.
I was a fast. learner; Savio had made a five-year plan
for me, and I finished it in three weeks, l think. He
corrected some positions and things, and we worked on
technique and music too , but it went fast. This is still
the way it goes. Well, anyway, Savio recommended me
to Maestro Nogueira and it ended up being a wonderful
association, because he would come to our house, or I
would go to his house, with my father of course. He was
a good early mentor. Now Nogueira, in addition to
introducing me to records of Heifetz playing Bach and
Toscanini records, introduced me to the music of
Nazareth. l already knew of the music of Nazareth
because I used to play some ofSin6poli's transcriptions.
Nogueira was very fond of Nazareth's music and he
said, "This beautiful music we have. Why don't. you try
to transcribe some of it for guitar?" And I said, "I don't
know how to do that." I was very young. And he said,
"Well, I'll give you a piano-original, and you look at
Spring 1992
what Llobet did," because he was very fond of the
Spanish arrangements of Granados and AJbeniz by
Uobet. I asked Savio too, and he told me the same
�g. Savio said the best thing for you to do is what I
�d: analyze what Tarrega did, what Llobet did. Theo
I began to figure things out right away. I began to see
America in different forms. You can find that influence
in Andrew Lloyd Webber's beautiful theme from Euita,
"Don't Cry for Me, Argentina." That's almost like an old
form ofHabanera. And Joplin's "Solace," that's a mas­
terpiece. I have transcribed it for the guitar, because
you have a fusion there of a Mexican-like theme and

�ring
rways to make the music guitaristic. And then I would I.hen the tango form and the rag as well.Tb.is early form
them the final product, and they would correct a of the tango is very soft. That's why I like the theme of

e:�
gs here and there. That's the way I started
ki g arrangements. The first thing I did was a tango
by Nazareth called "Remando." It came out pretty well,
and they wanted to publish it. I also gave them another
one that they never published. I got that back, and I
oow have it revised. Ifs a waltz called "Eponina." But
the Tango Hernando, which means, what? ...a canoe in
the water that floats... a bacarolle, that was published
by Innaos Vitale.
It's a tango Brasileiro, a style that Nazareth cre­
ated. It was a forerunner of the ch8ro, because the
ch6ros blends with other forms. We associate the tango
with Argentina today because that's where it became
more popular, but don't forget that Scott Joplin wrote
a tango when he wrote "Solace," and there is even a
touch of the tango in "The St. Louis Blues." The tango
comes from the Habanera and it's throughout Latin
Euita. I think Webber really captured the spirit of that
early form. Today, the tango as we know it, the Buenos
Aires dance form, was another thing altogether. That
form developed in a very sensuous, very macho, way. It
had it's beauty too, but it's another thing.
In Brazil, I believe the tango form was heavily
influenced by the polka. You can see in Nazareth's
music that blend of a little polka here, a little habanera
there, and then something unique, because Nazareth
began adding little riffs here and there, but the habanera
influence is definitely present. And he decided to caJJ it
a Brazilian tango. There is a tendency nowadays in
Brazil to call some of Nazareth's music chOros, but I
don't think it's ch6ros-that came later. But it was a
forerunner.
To be continued

. . . Arizona S�te Univeaity

sdwOl of Music
CulWStudy

The ASU School of Music is noted nationally for its outstanding prognms
from the undergr;iduate through the doctoral levels. Guitar students may pursue
Frank Koonce degrees in performance, music education, music therapy. or theory and composition.
Under the direction of Frank Koonce, the curriculum includes applied lessons, guitar
repe.rto1re, pedagogy, and performance ensembles. Scholarships, tuition waivers, and
graduate teaching usistantships are avail.able. Contact Dr. George Umberson, Director.
School of Music, Arizona State University, Tempe. AZ 85287-0405 or call (602.) 96>2816.

GFA Soundboard Spring 1992

15
 IBEGUITAR IN
LATIN AMERICA:
A PERSONAL VIEW
by Carlos Barbosa-Lima
as told to Pet.er Danner
PART II
L
AST TIME [ M.ENTION"ED THAT TliE Cl/ORO FORM 1$ VERY
important in the history ofBrazilian music. Villa­
Lobosgothis startas a chiJros player, goingaround
as a vagabond and discovering his musical roots. The
cMro emerged in the cities and dates from around the
turn of the century, just aft.er electricity came into Rio.
Life changed quite a bit after that, and you began to find
small groups of musicians and other entertainers per­
forming on the streets-I think you had something like
that in New Orleans as well. The guitar played a natural
and natural role m these groups, and because of them, I
believe a great number of talented guitarists were given
a new opportunity to develop.
Rio had become much more democratic all.er the
establishment of the republic in 1889. Brazil had been
an empire before then. (Actually, I believe Emperor
Pedro JI was one of the greatest sponsors of the arts
we've ever had. He was very much a supporter of the
arts. He had a palace in Rio and a winter palace in
Petropolis, which still stands.)
But to get back to these early choro groups, one of
the most important things to happen in the 1910s was
the rise of Pixinguinha, the first important Brazilian
composer of African descent. His real name was Alfredo
Vianna, "Pixmguinha" being a nickname from peziguin,
GFA Soundboard
13
which means a "good boy" as in the African dialect. He
was a very sweet man and very influential in the
development ofBraziHan music. I would say he was the
first one to really reach the masses. Pixinguinha was a
genius and a self-taught musician. He started as a flute
player in his early teens. The first person to promote
him internationally on the guitar was Laurindo
Almeida, because Laurindo knew him personally and
played with him.
So Pixingujnha came to this scene and, with his gift of
writing beautiful melodies, astounded everybody there.
He then studied music formally and created a group
called "Os Oito Batutas," a regional group designed to
play the ch.Oros, playing different instruments. It was one
of the fi.rst important groups in t.erms of playing popular
Brazilian music, and it included Joao Pernambuco on
guitar. Pixinguinha's brother Donga was also in the
group playing the Brazilian uiola, the double-stringed
guitar.
Os Oito Batutas was a fantastic group, and
Pixinguinha did their arrangements. His concept of
orchestration can be linked to what was happening in
America with Fletcher Henderson, and lat.er on with
Duke Ellington. Actually, Brazil musically has had
many things that happened side by side with what was
going on in the United States, and I think Fletcher
Henderson would be a good example. You had Scott
Joplin in the United States and we had Nazareth in
Summer 1992
Brazil. We had Catulo and you had Foster in the early Some of Pemambuco's music has now been published.
stages, and Irving Berlin too. There's also a large link For example, there's the famous "Sound ofBells." I made
between Brazilian music and the Caribbean and cer· an arrangement of that adding a lot of inner voicings,
tain kinds of American music. almost like echoing what the ensemble would play; that
Os Oito Batutas was a big hit. Enormous. Now was my approach. That piece is played too fast by most
gradually, with the advent of the radio and recordings, people. You know why?Because in the 1940s the famous
the music began reaching many more people. This was chorinho form came up in Brazil and it became much
instrumental music, but Brazil has always had a natu­ lighter and faster, echoing the bebop version in Brazil.
ral affinity for vocal music; it's just natural for people But actually it's much slower, the traditional way of
to sing there. It's part of the culture. You'll have playing. Lrud back, that's the key. There's a beautiful
somebody in the house doing the cleaning, and that recording by Laurindo and Charlie Byrd on that record
person will be singing; in the shower, singing-it's Brazilian Soul. That record deserved a Grammy.
natural. There is singing everywhere: in the busses, on
the trains, in the streets; you cannot see a Brazilian
group sitting still. So, with the advent of the radio,
together with Pixinguioha's talent (and, of course, There is singing everywhere:
some other people too in the same era), you know what
happened: lyrics began to be added to some of the
on the busses, on the trains, in
pieces. the streets; you cannot see a
Pixinguinha went to France in the '20s, at the same
time that Villa-Lobos and George Gershwin had gone Brazilian group sitting still.
there. Paris had become sort of the hot spot after World
War I. Pixinguinla had gone there just to play. He
found the winters miserable (which was rather how I
All this guitar activity inBrazil attracted Isaias Savio
felt during my first winter in the United States!), and
in Montevideo. Savio had been studying with Llobet,
he was very homesick, but he was a great success. I
because Llobet lived inBuenos Aires and he would come
would say Paris was culturally the center of the world
to Montevideo to play, and they got to be together quite
at that time. Villa-Lobos really expanded his career
a lot. Or Savio would go to Buenos Aires. It's about 300
there. He ended up going back toBrazil afterwards, but
miles by boat and a nice trip. Even in those days you could
Villa-Lobos always kept a home there: four months in
take a boat at night instead of staying in a hotel, and you
Paris, four months in New York (at the same hotel, the
would arrive in the morning. It's still a favorite way to get
Westbury, where Segovia used to stay, too).
there because air travel in South America is more expen­
As his horizons expanded, Pix.inguinha developed
sive than you would believe.
musically. I have talked to Laurindo Almeida about this,
So, Savio worked with Llobet, and then he also
and he agrees that Pixinguinha incorporated parts of
became interested in exploring the traditional routes of
those different regions naturally because the chOros be·
different parts of South America, especially the Rio de
gan to incorporate all kinds of things, including the
la Plata, and later Brazil. He became absolutely a
maxixe, and songs with all kinds of rhythms that people
Brazilian by heart. Savio had a bohemian tempera·
bring with their imaginations. So he was very important
ment by nature, and he came to Brazil in 1930 because
in the developmeot ofBrazilian music. CarlosJobim told
he had heard reports of Barrios' success there, and he
me that Pixinguinha's influence remained strong up
wanted to explore the Brazilian culture, because there
until his death in the '70s. Pix.inguinha absolutely loved
were rumors of these records and all this activity
the bossa nova after it had been developed by Jobim.
involving guitar. He first went to Porto Alegre, made a
I mentioned thatJoao Pernambuco (whose real name
little money, went to SAo Paulo, made a little more
was Jolio Teixeira Guimaraes) had been a member of
money, went Lo Rio, ran out of money, and decided to
Pixinguinha's group. He never received a formal music
stay. Rio was like a little paradise then. He settled
education; he was a completely self-taught musician, but
there for awhile and then went to Belo Horizonte, a
he knew exactly where the harmonies and counterpoint
beautiful city which bad been inspired by Washington,
were. He learned that from pure instinctive experience.
D.C. He stayed there, I think, for a year, taught, and
He didn't know how to write music, but he left a lot of
became involved in studying the folklore. He had become
original music in the form of recordings. These record·
very attracted to Villa-Lobos' work by then.
ings are beautiful, so good and clear. And he left some
Savio decided to make his home in Rio in 1932 or '33.
duets too, which he played with some of his contemporar­
It was not easy to make a living then because most of
ies. It's known that Villa-Lobos was familiar with his
the guitar students were broke or poor. We were all
music.

GFA Soundboard Summer 1992

14
aff ected by the Depression. Brazil was still young and
just barely starting to be an industrial country.Savio
might have settled in Sao Paulo, but there had been a
big revolution there in 1932, to overthrow the federal
government and establish a constitutional govern·
ment. I had an uncle who fought in that. There were
people in Lhe federal government who accused Sao
Paulo of seceding, but it was not; it was for the consti·
tutional movement. The revolution was defeated, but
the ideals came back later on, although by 1937 we had
another dictatorship imposed, but Sao Paulo's ideals
came probably much later. So, it was not the right time
for Savio to go to Sao Paulo. Things were pretty un­
stable there.
Rio would have been attractive too, because the
Radio Nacional was there. Laurindo Almeida came
from Santos in the state of Silo Paulo and went to Rio
in 1935 because radio was nourishing and had jobs for
people . Savio thought of getting a job playing on the
radio, but I have an old-time friend of his who is now in
his late 70s, who told me that Savio decided then that
he was really more into teaching than into playing.
Savio was mviled to a big party at Pixinguinha's house
in Rio sometime around 1936 or '37, because he could
play pretty well too. But playmg was not Savio's major
interest. He played until 1940 when he went to the
northern part of Brazil. He said there came a time
when he had to make a decision, because his goal was
to establish a national school for music in Brazil for the
guitar, in the national style bringing that influence.
Also he said he wanted to study philosophy, and he
became a Rosicrusian. J don't know how he found time
to do all that. And he enjoyed life too, going out.
At one point, Luiz Bonf� came to study with him, but
he didn't stay with him long. He had met Savio at that
party at the Pixinguinhas, and he said he wanted to
learn technique. Bonf� had been taught by his father.
That was the tradition: one generation to the next.
UsuaJly with a very poor right hand, and the left hand
a little better than the right. Savio found that a com·
mon practice in Brazil.
Savio taught many people for nothing, and that
happened at the time I was studying with him. The fee
we paid was so reasonable. He wouldn't accept more.
We were living under very poor economic conditions at
that time-J'm talking about the late 1950s now, when
I was about 11 or 12 years old-and what we worked
out was that he would come to our house to give lessons,
and then he could spend a nice, quiet Sunday morning
with us relaxing. Then he would stay and have lunch
with us. It must have been very hard on him, but it was
fine for us.

BRAZIL

-----
.---

'··-···· " ·······

� U\n•

/(

f'Cll"IC
0 C £A N
I
.,, "° .)00 .'° iOI ......
I I I I
0 C £ A N

� .....
. .. ......... . . .. !!•..•f ••
.
!'. $�•·.·�··�
ti ...... .

cs c.,r.111 ,,.,.

'• ..,.:..

'• ,........c.
'' •·• 4• Jtuut
lltl ... ,,.... .. ,.,...
0 co l'OO .....
St Sett••• L...J.._J

GFA Soundboard Summer 1992

15
 Savio told me that wherever he found somebody
teaching a little bit, they were using either the Carcassi
or Aguado method. That was much behind what was
going on in Argentina at the time, where the Sagreras
books were already available. Sin6poli had aJso pub­
lished a version ofAguado·s method with some transcrip­
tions on the level of players today. Domingo Prat wa.,
another important influence with his ink
l with the old
European tradition. I don't think people today could do
something like his dictionary, even with computers. He
put so much time into it and didn't have to worry about
the money. He was an incredible scholar. Every bit of
information he left us is absolutely true. When Romanillos
1 1968
did his research on the Torres guitar, he took a lot from
Prat, and he found everything that Prat said seemed to
be true. He became very close t.o the Anidos, and he kept
i n correspondence with Savio too. Actually, in his
Dwcionario he has a verynice quote about Savio, because
Savio was unknown then, just coming up.
Oswarldo Soares wrote the first important method
in Brazil, but he taught in a very orthodox so-called
Tarrega way that I don't think ever existed. His ap·
proach to the right hand was more as you picture the
way Tarrega played, although I firmly believe that.
Ttirrega didn't play all the time with his right hand as
shown in the famous picture-it looks posed for photo­
graphing!
Prat also claimed his approach was very Tarrega­
like, and Savio said it was probably true. But Savio had
studied with Llobet, and Llobet was his first influence,
just as Llobet's had been Magin Alegre. It was the basis
oft.he idea of using free and rest stroke alternated and
combined in the right hand, and then they used a
combination of legato and staccato for both hands.
Somewhere along the line he must have had some
contact with that, where the right hand is more natu­
rally curved and creating more contrast ofarticulation.
Apparently that idea of multi-articulation came from
the high level of string playing. When Llobet studied
with Ttirrega they probably went into other things.
Liobet was already a player ofa very high level by then.
Savio claimed that the multi-articulation idea came
from Liobet's teaching and immediately absorbed that.
You apply both rest and free stroke and combine both.
That wasTarrega's teaching, which suited the Brazilian
need very well. The tendency of the Brazilians was to
play mostly free stroke-one string ringing, while
another voice is heard on the immediate string.
Barrios was one of South American guitarists to
I
play more in the tirando style; that's what Savio in­
formed me. Barrios became acquainted with the rest­
stroke idea, but probably used it very minimally. This
is why Savio rated Barrios' style much beneath that of
the LlobeUAJegre tradition.
GFA Soundboard
16
I was taught by Savio in both ways (that. was his
way); he wanted you to develop a natural instinct. You
might use one direction more than the other depending
on your approach, but the presentation of both would
enable you to create a wide-spread possibility for in·
stant changes of style, including stretches for the left
hand.
Savio absorbed Llobet's school, which he claimed he
brought to Brazil. And Savio was fascinated when he
heard Segovia. There wa· a different tone quality, and
tone quality was one of the things he insisted on with
every student. Savio and Mae tro Segovia never got on;
there were problems. Segovia always had some kind of
apparent resistance to Savio, which I found obvious in
when I went to Spain.
In Rio, Savio met a few people who were playing in
the choros style. Usually he found that their right hand
was in sort of bad shape, but these people were produc·
ing pizzicati against a note in the bass line. That was a
style that Bonfa inherited some of. But Savio wanted
them to learn right-hand technique in a more relaxed
way within the classical tradition, so you could do that
and be able to do that pizzicato too when you wanted.
That's what Bonf� mastered an.er he learned 1t. To
Savio, each student was a special case.
Savio began to write his books; these were the books
he wrote in the 1930s that were published by Casa Del
Vicchio in Sao Paulo, one of the guitar makers. One of
these books of about 15 pages is almost like a condensed
method on technique. It's a fantastic book with stretches,
slurs, jumps, thirds, playing the left hand alone with
harmonics in the right hand-it's incredible, really. He
began to write his method books in the '30s and gave
1961.
them to R1cordi in 1947, and Ricordi finally published
them in It's interesting. I never studied from these
books myself. Savio was very economical with his stu·
dents. The books were not there, but he thought I could
study some technical exercises and go right to the music.
1961
He would go along with what every student needed.
Thesebookscameoutin and aremarvelous, although
they have not yet been discovered. The second volume, for
instance, has an entire section forstudying chords and all
forms ofaltered chords that would be very useful forjazz
people interested in this sort of technique. He was very
farsighted in that. He told Ricordi he had lost a third
volume-there were no photocopies in those days. The
third volume contained very advanced studies. He said
most of them were inspired by Chopin and used really
advanced technique, but. these were lost. We will just
have to live with that.
The presence of Luis Bonf�. inheriting the class1caJ
tradition through Savio, changed Brazilian guitar music
quite a bit at that moment in the late '30s. And so did the
figure ofGaroto (Anibal Augusto Sardinha), because he
Summer 1992
was an incredible musician. We can see here how all the
avenues have somehow had an influence. First there was
the teacher Oswaldo Soares, who had studied with
Josefina Robledo. Now Soares taught Attilo Bernardini
in Slio Paulo, who published some lovely books and
studies. I went through some ofthese before I met Savio
and think they could be very useful as preparatory
studies. They are influenced by TW'rega-very much in
that orthodox style and tradition. Bernardini was the
teacher of Garoto, and Garoto somehow absorbed his
teaching and modified I.hem a little bit. He probably
became acquainted n i directly with Savio's teaching as
well; I think musical needs guide you intochange. Garoto
was an astonishing figure in Brazilian music. I think he
was a geruus way ahead of his time. He died very young
in the 1950s, but he leftan incredible legacy. Fortunately,
a collection of his music has been made. Since he studied
with Bernardini, he is the only one in that guitar tradi·
tion who does not. have a direct link with Savio.
Savio also influenced the people interP.st.ed in Brazil­
ian popular music. For instance, you have Dilermando
Reis and others who have studied classical music as well.
Then Savio studied the Brazilian forms and began to
compose music in these forms and also easy composi­
tions, so that an average person could play something
musically with good taste. It's important to have music
like that. In the meantime, he was teaching traditional
material like Sor and Aguado and reviving them. He had
studied all that material with Llobet. A couple of his
editions are really wonderful, because, while there were
some changes made here and there, he had definitely
studfod aJI the 19th century traditions wit.h Llobet. He
was not happy with some of the publishers in Buenos
Aires at the time; they were very tentative. He published
a lot of music with Ricorcti in Buenos Aires. I think they
have quite a legacy of his. There are many ofTarrega's
transcriptions which needed a little bit of revision, be­
cause Tarrega died without revising them, and, through
the studies, he had with Llobet, Savio just took out a few
of the excessive slides and corrected a couple of wrong
notes here and there. That's all he did. He published a lot
ofTarrega's transcriptions. I believe he also had a corre­
spondence wit.h Tcirrega's son in Spain, as well as with
Pujol. Savio told me that Llobet was a fine, wonderful
player, maybe not with the incredible, immediate impact
thatSegovia had, but probablyjust as musical. Savio said
that when he heard Segovia in BuenosAires, the things
that caught his altenlion were the phrasing, the com­
munication, the exploration of the surprising tone
colors. Thal side Savio incorporat.ed from watching
Segovia play.
Bonfa absorbed that. Segovia sound, and I tried to
absorb it too, because you can creat.e-well, it's like
having an orchestra in your hand-you create a palette
that becomes your sound, instead of playing flat. To my
GFA Soundboard
17
surprise, when I went toSpain in 1968, manyofSegovia's
so�ed folJowers were absolutely away from that tracti­
tion; you know, playing very flat. with no emotion and
even with no vibrato, which is one of the beauties of the
instrument-a replacement ofthe human voice-with a
tendency ofa boring one-dimensional playing, emotion­
less and colorless.
People were becoming more and more interested in
playingthe guitar and Savio was giving free lessons there
in Sao Paulo, which meantthathe was alwaysfinancially
burdened. By the time I met him around 1955, he was
struggling to make a living. Teaching well, but living in
a very modest place. I'm very happy that I came at the
right time. I began to play a lot at that early stage, and by
the end of the 1950s the bossa nova had an explosion in
Brazil.
ASTOR PlAZZOLLA
(1921-1992)
As we were going to press, word has reached us ofthe
death on July 5th of Argentina·s great composer of
modern tangos, Astor Piazzolla, at the age of7 l. Nearly
two years ago, Piazzolla suffered a stroke from which he
never recovered.
Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Agrentina, and
studied piano and later composition in Paris with Nactia
Boulanger. A gifted player of the bandoneon, Piazzolla
became known for his innovative music, which blended
the tradition tango with elements of jazz and classical
music. Many of his pieces became well known in guitar
transcription.
Piazzolla's death comes only a month aft.er the pass­
ing of another of Argenina's great native musicians,
Atahualpa Yupanqui (see this issue's "Reverberations").
ERRATUM
WeregretthatacolumnappearedintheSpring
issue of Soundboard CXIX/l) under the wrong
byline. Due to a printer crr9r1 John W. Duarte's
"Notes From Europe," a regular feature in these
pages, was misidentified on page 76 as another of
our features, "Letter From France" by Mary
Criswick.
We apologize to Ms. Criswick and Mr. Duarte
for any inconvenience this error may have caused,
and wish to give Mr. Duarte all due credit for his
contribution.
Summer 1992