Wiener Choro Ensemble - Viena Brasileira (2022)

This album is a double tribute to the city of Vienna, its centuries-old musical tradition and the genuine Brazilian musical language that is Choro, considered to be the classical Brazilian music. The concept of "Brazilian Vienna", borrowed from the musician Sivuca (1930-2006), emphasizes this tenuous (and sometimes almost imperceptible) border between popular and classical music. The musical genre choro symbolises precisely this intercontinental "dialogue", combining melodies from European classical music and North American jazz with African rhythms.

This dialogue intensified from the 18th century onwards, when polka, lundu, batuque and other rhythms arrived in Brazil. It was in this musical melting pot that the first Brazilian music genre originated, which historians say was born in 1870.

Before becoming a musical genre, choro was considered a way to interpret foreign music, such as polka. With its characteristics of artistic freedom of the individual, collective improvised expression, this genre has a lot in common to north-american Jazz.

The disc pays tribute to this history, giving the audience no only compositions of contemporary Choro, but also tributes to the masters of this repertoire. In short, this work invites the listener into a cultural experience that makes it possible to understand the depth of the musicians who make their instruments cry, taking them to the peak of their possibilities.