MAINSTAY - Regional Choro Ensemble
Have you heard this one? A man walks into a bar with a parrot on his shoulder. Hold on. Strike that. Wrong story!
On a Wednesday night in 2010, Matt Mielnick walks into the Zinc Bar on Houston Street, the dividing line between SOHO and Greenwich Village in NYC. He is lured inside the small club by the sounds of live music. An ensemble of musicians, identified by the bartender as the Regional Choro Ensemble, are playing a jubilant, force-you-to-smile instrumental jazz on button accordion, a small, high-pitched mandolin-sized steel-stringed instrument (the cavaquinho), two seven-stringed guitars, and a tambourine. The music had a Brazilian flair, but was consistently upbeat enough to have underscored one of Fred and Ginger’s early 1930’s dance numbers. One evening of this delightful music was not enough, and for many months to follow, Wednesdays became a Choro night.
Choro, which originated in 19th century Rio de Janeiro often has a fast and happy rhythm and is characterized by virtuosity, improvisation, subtle modulations, syncopation and counterpoint. It is considered the first characteristically Brazilian genre of urban popular music. The Mainstay is honored to welcome the Regional Choro Ensemble to serenade us with this infectious happy music.