Milonga per tre :: Live in Brussels

Description

Brazilian music, like most other Latin American music, is a cross between three different cultures : the native Indians, who were the country’s first inhabitants, the European « conquerors » and the slaves that « came over » from Africa. This fascinating mix spreading across the vast Brazilian territory brought forth a vast array of styles with the most stunning diversity : forró, baião, frevo, maracatu, rancho, samba, maxixe, chôro, modinha, to name just a few, and not to forget the voluptuous bossa nova. Throughout the twentieth century these genres inspired countless musical talents who have contributed to the development of popular Brazilian music.
Egberto Gismonti holds a special position amongst today’s Brazilian composers. His music, which borders jazz, classical and popular, finds its way all over the world. Although raised in a sphere of popular music, Gismonti enjoyed a classical formation in different disciplines : piano, composition, orchestra, and analysis according to Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Pianist Richie Beirach once humorously remarked that the music of Gismonti sounds like « Chopin born in Rio de Janeiro ».

Alfredo Vianna, better known under the name of « Pixinguinha », was born in 1898. When he was a child his African grandmother used to call him by the nickname of « pizindim » (good boy), which in Brazilian pronunciation became Pixinguinha. Son of an amateur flutist, the flute was Pixinguinha’s first instrument of choice until he took up the saxophone, from 1946 the only instrument he ever played. He was still very young when he started performing for public accompanied by his two brothers on guitar. His remarkable talent for improvisation and embellishing melodies made a deep and lasting impression on his audiences. It was not long before Pixinguinha began composing and decided to form his own group, « o grupo do Pixinguinha ». Later renamed « os oito batutas », the group made a grand tour of Europe in the early nineteen twenties to bring Brazilian music to the world. On the recommendation of Heitor Villa Lobos, it was Pixinguinha who twenty years later was asked to create a perfect line up of the most popular musicians who would participate in a recording for Leopold Stokowski. It was again Pixinguinha who would become responsible for successfully promoting Brazilian music in the United States. In 1929 Pixinguinha was appointed official arranger of the orchestra of the Victor record label, where his way of orchestrating and arranging caused a revolution in a musical world until then little influenced by foreign techniques.
Several poets have written about famed musical pieces by Pixinguinha, such as Lamento (Vinícius de Moraes), Carinhoso (João de Barro) and Rosa (Otávio de Souza). Rosa is a typical Brazilian waltz that Pixinguinha recorded himself in 1922 for the first time. This piece grew to be the symbol of Pixinguinha’s fame and has since seen an endless stream of interpretations by Brazilian musicians.

Jacob Bittencourt is the greatest mandolin player in the history of the Brazilian chôro. In Brazil he is better known under the name of « Jacob de Bandolim », or simply « Jacob », as he personifies the language of the chôro. Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1918, he fell in love with the mandolin in his adolescent years, when he received « a mandolin of the Naples type » as a gift.
Although getting involved in the world of music already at an early age and joining several instrumental groups, he made it a point of principle that music would never be his way of earning a living. And so Jacob did a string of jobs, such as salesman, insurance agent, shopkeeper, assistant pharmacist and finally police clerk, the job he held on to until his death in 1969.
His financial independence in relation to the music world allowed him to give concerts whenever it suited him, to compose at his own pace and be free in his choice of producers and music labels.
In 1947 Jacob recorded his first solo album, which was followed by several others. Twenty years later he founded his own group Época de ouro (Golden Age) with which he gave numerous concerts and television performances. In 1967 Jacob de Bandolim played Naquele tempo by Pixinguinha during a television show presented by the singer Elizeth Cardoso and at this event he was accompanied by two very young guitar players … Sérgio and Odair Assad !

Jacob Bittencourt is the author of an impressive number of compositions that have become standard classics, such as Noites cariocas (Nights in Rio), Receita de Samba, Doce de côco…

More and more the work of Astor Piazzolla is finally getting the recognition and place that it deserves in the history of music. At present his « new » tangos are enjoying an unprecedented fame and popularity in the so called classical music world : the arrangements, the adaptations, transcriptions and recordings are multiplying rapidly. World-wide his music is being played with intense fervour and great passion, whilst the steadily increasing amount of publications such as memoirs, theses and books reflects the growing interest in the life and work of this exceptional composer.

Carlos Gardel, « Gardès » being his real name, was born in Toulouse in 1887. At the age of four he moved with his mother to Buenos Aires. Little is known about his early formation as a popular singer (he is said to have been taught by Eduardo Bonessi). Several musical establishments claim the honour of his artistic debuts : el Abasto, Nueva Pompeya et el Congresso. In 1915 Gardel paired with guitarist José Razzano to form the most famous duo ever to play porteña songs. Not only did the duo give concerts in all theatres of Argentina, but it also continued to do grand tours of Europe and the United States. In 1917 Gardel made his cinema debut, starting out with the initial silent movies and eventually progressing to the spoken film. He tragically died in a plane crash on the 24th of June 1935, in the company of his secretary, lyric writer and two of his guitarists.

Juan Carlos Cobian was an important contributor to the evolution of the tango, both as performer as well as composer. He was born in 1896 in Pigüe (province of Buenos Aires) of a Spanish father and an Argentinean mother. Cobian was irresistibly drawn to the piano played by his sister Dolores and it was her insistence that enabled him to enrol in the local conservatory and join the class of Numa Rossotti, a pupil of Vincent d’Indy. Like so many other pianists of the era, Cobian started out making a living by playing in bars and silent movie theatres. He subsequently formed a trio with bandoneonist Genaro Esposito and violinist Ernesto Zambonini. Over the years this popular trio went through a succession of several musicians. Cobian is the author of many tangos and thus claims an important place in the musical history of Argentina

© Françoise-Emmanuelle Denis