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Ethnographic Performance Review of a “Choro Das 3” concert in College Park

1.

The musical group which I observed, “Choro Das 3,” is an all female band from Brazil

that specializes in traditional instrumental Brazilian Choro music. The band consists of 3 sisters:

one who plays flute, one who plays the 7 string acoustic guitar, and another who plays

mandolin, clarinet, banjo, and piano. During the concert I attended, only the mandolin and

clarinet were played by that member. The group is also joined by their father, who plays the

pandeiro. They started playing when the sisters were all little girls, and have been playing for

around 16 years now. Chro is a traditional style of Brazilian music that originates in Rio de

Janeiro during the early 19th century when polkas and waltzes mixed with Afro-Brazilian

rhythms(Soundcheck). After the radio was introduced to Brazil, Choro became popular across

the country and influenced some more well known contemporary genres of music. Pedro

Ramos, a cavaquinho and tenor guitar player in the group “Choro Ensemble” says, “We used to

call choro the grandfather of bossa nova, the father of samba(Soundcheck).”

2.

The concert took place in MilkBoy ArtHouse, which is located on Route 1 in College

Park, Maryland. The venue itself is very large and has multiple different rooms of varying sizes

where different concerts take place. The room where Choro Das 3 was performing was in the

back of MilkBoy ArtHouse, behind a secret bookcase-door. It was one of the smaller spaces in

the building, and felt cozy and intimate. It was probably chosen intentionally for this reason; The

space matched the music that was being performed in it. The ceiling was lined with dim

lightbulbs that added a rustic, backyard feel to the place. There was a bar along one side of the
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room, and the rest of the space was taken up by small dining tables, with 2 rows of folding

chairs towards the back and the stage at the front. When the band came on, they sat down,

checked that their instruments were in tune by playing a few notes, and with no introduction

started to play. After their first song, they all introduced themselves and talked a little about their

history as a band. In between most of their songs, they usually took time to swap or tune

instruments, take a rest, and talk to the audience. One of the band members would introduce

the next piece typically with an anecdote of how they learned the song or explanation of its

Brazilian name. The audience engagement during the show was for the most part minimal,

aside from a few moments. At one point, the band asked how many people in the audience

were Brazilian. Quite a few people in the back raised their hands. They seemed to be older,

between 50 and 70. As one of the band members mentioned between songs, in Brazil, not

many young people dance to the older style music like they were playing. This could explain

why there were mostly older Brazilians at the concert. Younger Brazilians may not be as

interested in the older music that would be of their parents generation. Later on, a few of the

older Brazilian couples got up and danced to the music in the back. At another point, the band

had the audience learn a phrase and then had them sing this phrase during some parts of a

song. Most people participated.

The instrumentation consisted of a 7 string guitar, a mandolin, a flute, a clarinet, a

melodica, and a pandeiro. The guitar sounded deep, likely because of the 7th string which

enabled it to play very low notes. The sound was thick and full but also soft and round which

made me think that the strings were nylon as opposed to steel. The mandolin sounded similar to

a guitar, but much higher pitched and twangier. The notes were much sharper than that of the

guitar. The flute sounded not really sharp or soft, more in-between the two. It played much

higher notes than any of the other instruments. The clarinet’s sound was definitely nasal-y and

very soft and smooth. It could play very high notes and could also go down relatively low and
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probably played with the most range out of all of the other instruments. The melodica was not

an instrument I had seen before. It looked like a small keyboard with a tube attached to the top.

The musician blew through the tube while pressing keys. It sounded a lot like an accordion, but

less rich and full. The pandeiro I recognized from learning about it in class. looked a lot like a

tambourine, but sounded slightly different. The metal bells on the side were cleaner sounding

and less jingly and Christmas-like than a tambourine.

There were a few patterns that I noticed throughout the different songs. One was that

the tempo and mood would often change multiple times during a song. A song could start slow,

with a sentimental feeling where the mandolin, flute, or melodica linger on notes that swell and

ebb and note changes are slow. As more instruments come in, the tempo might pick up and

melodies could become more ornamented, complex, and rapid. A common marker of a tempo

change was these moments where all instruments would play the same chord together

staccato, so there would be a lot of emphasis on them but then the chords would stop abruptly.

There might be a pause for what seemed to be a random amount of time after these chords,

and then after the pause the new section of the song would start. The changing tempo as well

as these pauses that didn’t seem to match the meter of the song made for songs that were

more dynamic than ones that Americans might be used to. This idea is complemented by the

lack of overall structure in the songs. Aside from one or two specific songs, there was usually no

clear chorus or verse. Instead, they may have had intros, but the rest would just be long

improvisational parts by one or both of the non-guitar instruments.

Another pattern that I noticed was that the instruments tended to have the same roles

throughout the songs. The guitar usually played more in the background, and was more of a

rhythm instrument, as opposed to a lead instrument. What was played on the guitar was usually

pretty simple. It consisted of chords played in “la pompe” style, which would be the key that the

melody would be in at that particular time. The guitar might then change chords straight away, or
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walk up or down to the next chord with minor ornamentation which sounded a lot like jazz

manouche style playing. Besides this, it served no other function as it never had a solo part or

even its own melody besides playing the chord progression of the song. The other instruments

on the other hand, were much more present and had more intricate roles. The mandolin, flute,

clarinet, and melodica would all play the melody of the song. They also had a lot of

improvisational parts, or what seemed to be improvisational parts. These parts seemed to be

improvisational because of how quickly the notes were changing and the complexity and length

of the melody, but it could have just been well rehearsed and memorized. One of these

instruments would play the main melody while another one of the instruments would play a less

complicated countermelody so that both instruments were still very present, but one was

emphasized more than the other. Eventually, they would switch so that the other instrument

would play the main melody and had emphasis over the other. In certain songs, one of these

lead instruments would stop and give the other a solo part where that instrument would play

alone without any other instrument and sometimes with the guitar and pandeiro as well.
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3.

• Considering that you have played at some very large and prestigious venues in the past,
what made you choose to play at MilkBoy ArtHouse which is a relatively small and local

venue?

• What or who influenced you to become musicians at such a young age?

• What are some benefits and drawbacks that you’ve experienced being an all-family band?

• Has spending a lot of time on tour in the United States and other countries effected the way
you play or what songs you choose to play? Do you play different songs depending on where

you are or who your audience is?

• What made you choose to play such an old and traditional style of music considering that
most of your listeners seem to be well above your age?

4.

If I were to extend this experience into an ethnographic research project, I would explore

the theme of “traditional” vs “modern” music in Brazil. I would want to find out how Choro music

from the 19th century transformed into the Choro music that is played today. What is similar and

different about songs of this genre through time? I also wonder about technology and its role in

the genre. Since the genre is so old, there have been many advances in music technology since
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its creation such as electronic amplifiers, digital recording, computer editing, and so on. I

wonder how new technology effected the way the genre was played or listened to.

5.

One theme from class that related to the performance was roots and routes and, more

specifically, the sharing of culture through music. Not only did people listen to Brazilian music,

but they learned about what it is like to live there and some of the history of Brazilian culture

through the stories and anecdotes that the performers would tell between songs. People also

learned some Portuguese words when the performers would explain the name of the song they

were about to play, and when they taught the phrase to the audience for them to sing. With this,

they are bringing a piece of Brazilian culture with them and giving it to the audience.

I very much liked the performance. As a guitar player for 7 years, I love going to see

other guitar players play. It was definitely interesting to hear a play-style that I am not familiar

with, as well as see how the musician was playing and which fingers or frets they were using. I

would recommend the show to anyone who likes Latin American or jazz music.
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Works Cited

Soundcheck, WNYC. “Choro Ensemble: Brazil Before Bossa.” NPR, NPR, 11 Mar. 2008,

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88102556.