Video: 3 Original Brazilian Tunes - Piano/Marimba Duo

Last Friday I was delighted to be able to perform 3 of my original Brazilian tunes at a faculty recital at MacPhail Center for Music (where I teach), joined by my friend Jenny Klukken on marimba. We had a blast putting these arrangements together - it was fascinating to figure out how to layer our parts, considering that both piano and marimba have so many possibilities for combining notes.  

The first one, Gingando (which I posted a solo piano version of back in December), is an uptempo Brazilian choro, and Gingando is one of those words that doesn't directly translate, but means "grooving" or "swinging. 

In case you're wondering, "What's a choro?", there are different types - many have a very fast tempo like this one. See here and here for more background on Brazilian choro, and watch the amazing documentary: The Sound of Rio: Brasileirinho.

Anelante (Wishful/Wistful) is a different, slower type of Brazilian choro: choro serenata. This piece has traditional choro form (AABACA), but not traditional choro harmonic progressions - it has a healthy dose of Debussy influence in there, too!

Brincalhão (Playful) has sections of both maxixe and samba. What's a maxixe, you ask? It's a dance from the mid-1800s that was sometimes also called Brazilian tango (and developed alongside the Argentinean tango) - check out the composer Ernesto Nazareth, who wrote many of them. 

Thanks for checking out these videos - wishing you a peaceful weekend with hints of spring (but if not, the Brazilian music always helps)!