Beco do Choro (Choro’s Alley) is Brazilian music at its best: instrumental virtuosity combined with traditional folk elements to generate fresh and exciting arrangements of old and contemporary songs of Brazil, including Antonio Carlos Jobim, Pixinguinha, Baden Powell, Jorge Benjor, and Caetano Veloso. Beco does not stop there - their original compositions are strikingly beautiful and also deeply rooted.
The members of Beco combine instrumental virtuosity on violin, clarinet, saxophone, acoustic guitars, cavaquinho (Brazilian Ukulele) with an authentic infectious singing style and the irresistible rhythm of traditional batucada (percussion ensemble): surdo (the largest drum), pandeiro (Brazilian tambourin), tamborim (the smallest drum), ganzá (shaker), tan-tan (mid-size hand drum), reco-reco (scraper), and repinique (the lead drum in the batucada/samba-school style). Brazilian music has undoubtedly caused a tremendous impact on international popular music, more influential world wide than any musical style (aside from north american music.) It has been successful abroad for its intrinsic qualities: swing, joy, struggle, sadness, melancholy, nostalgia (“saudade”) and excitement. Brazil has exported various influential musical genres, although very few countries speak its national language, Portuguese. Beco’s music offers all the outstanding qualities that Brazilian music has, plus it shares great educational content with its audiences.
Combining entertainment with education and cultural awareness, its music has all the essential qualities of Brazilian Popular music: intense lyricism, singing in Brazil’s native tongue, showcasing themes that present the heritage of traditional folk elements of Brazilian culture. Its melodies are beautiful, highly expressive, enhanced by some of the most captivating rhythms on the planet. Beco’s songs present a high level of poetry and vibrant Afro-Brazilian rhythms, portrayed by traditional percussion instruments, which energize listeners from a diversity of communities.
Beco do Choro plays different styles of Brazilian music: Choro, a vibrant, fast, melody driven instrumental style that originated in the late 1900’s and reached its popularity peak in the late Twentieth Century with the mandolin of Jacob do Bandolim; Samba, originally an Afro-Brazilian drumming style that became popularized through the Samba-canção (Samba-song) style during the 30’s and 40’s and currently energizes the entire Brazilian population in Samba-school street Carnival parades. Samba became a fundamental part of virtually all Brazilian repertories; Baião, a rhythm born in the Northeast region of Brazil, that reached national attention through the accordion and voice of Luiz Gonzaga; and Bossa Nova – an innovative way of playing Samba introduced in the 50’s by the guitar and voice of João Gilberto - the style considered by many an aesthetic revolution that achieved worldwide attention with the success of Jobim’s Girl from Ipanema.
Beco do Choro is:
Kailin Yong - violin, vocals, and percussion
Dexter Payne – clarinet, saxophones, vocals, and percussion
Francisco Marques – guitar, cavaquinho, vocals, and percussion
João Junqueira – guitar, vocals, and percussion
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