About Me
The Sound of Rio is a 90-minute swinging musical documentary film about Choro, the first genuinely Brazilian urban music that has evolved over the
past 130 years into a fascinating form of modern tropical sound. It was back
in the late 19th century in Rio de Janeiro when Brazilian musicians started
to blend European melodies, Afro-Brazilian rhythms and the melancholic
interpretation of the Brazilian Indians' music to create Choro.
Mostly instrumental, Choro was performed in dancing, beer and concert halls
and is credited as being the first musical expression of the then-emerging
urban middle class in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's melting pot. Choro had a
prominent place in the development of Brazil's cultural identity and
remained a major popular music style until the 1920s, leading directly into
Samba and later to Bossa Nova. As Villa-Lobos said, "Choro is the essence
and soul of Brazilian music."
"In my previous music documentary Moro no Brasil , I chose rather a social point of view, I showed music's role as kind of a social survival ritual of the people," Kaurism..ki says. "In The Sound of Rio, my approach was slightly different. This time, I used music, Choro, to present how musical expression and performance reflect in everyday life and vice versa."The soundtrack captures the best moments, in full-length songs to bring them
out of their film roots and assemble them into a meaningful Choro
compilation album. This includes a feature on the established Trio Madeira
Brasil, comprised of Ronaldo do Bandolim, Marcello Gon..alves and Z.. Paulo
Becker. Trio Madeira Brasil is one of the most exciting groups to emerge in
the world of instrumental music in recent years. It brings together three
virtuosos with the idea of making music that is both energetic and refined.
Their repertoire includes the classic as well as the eclectic, representing
the best of Brazilian culture, while also attentive to influences from other
cultures. And, of course, there is much more.
"Improvisation is not provoked, as in: now you’re free. No, improvisation is just a variation, a subtle variation, and you return to the theme in the middle. Improvisation and the theme become mixed together." - Fred Dantas, choro trombonist and musicologist
“Choro has resisted epidemics, two world wars, military coups, the scorn of all our governments, and the neglect of the recording industry. Today, it resists the musical idiocy imposed by globalization and international cultural trash, and it will resist everything. Choro has its own parameters.†- Mauricio Carrilho, Choro guitarist
