What is Choro?

Choro (pronounced "shoh-roh"; "cho" as in "sho" of "show", "ro" as in "ro" of "rose" when pronounced with a Scottish accent), popularly called Chorinho, is a style of music, a Brazilian popular and instrumental music genre that has more than 130 years of existence. A Choro Ensemble is called “Regional,” and a musician, composer or instrumentalist is called “Chorão” (or weeper). In spite of its name, this kind of music has, in general, a very vibrant and cheerful beat, characterized by the virtuosity and improvisation of its participants. Choro represents the most typical Brazilian instrumental formation, as well as the longest-standing musical organized group within the Brazilian popular music.

The Choro Ensemble is traditionally formed by one or more solo instruments, such as the flute, the cavaquinho, the mandolin, the clarinet or the saxophone (performing the melody), the cavaquinho (Brazilian Ukulele, performing the core of the rhythm), one or more guitars, and the 7-string guitar (acting as bass), thus composing the basis of the band, and finally the pandeiro (a Brazilian hand frame drum similar to the tambourine), which establishes and keeps the rhythm of the music.

The Choro, in its essence, is a purely instrumental style. Something that frequently occurred in the past and still occurs today, is the association of lyrics with some Choros (very few that do have lyrics) years after being composed by the author, in many cases even years after the composer’s death.

We could say that Choro has its historical dawn in the city of Rio de Janeiro in the early 19th century, with the arrival of the Portuguese Royal Family in Brazil, fleeing from Napoleon’s invasion and bringing along fifteen thousand Europeans. As a direct consequence, the city of Rio de Janeiro undergoes unprecedented urban and cultural transformations. Musicians, new musical instruments and new European rhythms reach the city and are immediately accepted by local society. Before long, the city of Rio de Janeiro becomes known, as attested by the poet Araújo Porto Alegre, as “the city of pianos."

The Brazilian way of playing the polka, the xote (or schottische) and the tango – European rhythms introduced in Rio de Janeiro in 1845, 1851 and 1868, respectively, and the lundu – an African rhythm already present in the Brazilian culture at the time, has largely contributed to the development of what the Choro would one day become.

In 1867, at the age of 19, the flutist Joaquim Antônio da Silva Callado already composes his first Choro, called “Flor Amorosa” (Loving Flower). This is why the 1870/1880 decade was more formally set as that in which Choro took its first steps.

Where does the word "Choro" come from?

Among researchers, it seems that no uniform stand has been taken on the origin of the word Choro.

The word may have derived from the plaintive style of playing foreign songs at the end of the 19th century, and its enthusiasts started to call it “weeping music." Hence the word Choro, since the noun “choro” in Portuguese means “weep.” The Choro Ensemble, as a group, then started to be known as “Choro," as in “Choro do Callado” (Mr. Callado’s Choro).

The term may also have derived from “xolo,” a sort of ball that would gather slaves of the farms, an expression which, based on the confusion caused by its paronym in the Portuguese language, started to be known as “xoro” and finally, in the city, must have started to be spelled with “ch.”

Others claim that the origin of the term is related to the melancholic feeling conveyed by the guitar improvised modulations played in response to the principal theme (also known in the Portuguese language as “baixarias”).