Choro, also called chorinho, is a Brazilian popular music style. Its origins are in 19th century Rio de Janeiro. Originally choro was played by a trio of flute, guitar and cavaquinho (a small chordophone with four strings). Other instruments commonly played in choro are the mandolin, clarinet, and saxophone. These melody instruments are backed by a rhythm section composed of guitar, 7-string guitar (playing bass lines) and light percussion. The cavaquinho appears sometimes as a melody instrument, other times as part of the rhythm. Strong influences on the music of Brazil come from all part of the world but theres a regional music very popular with influence from Africa,Europe and the natives of the Amazon rainforest and of other parts of the country. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ipanema beach Cristo Redentor A NASA satellite image of Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro (meaning River of January in Portuguese) is the name of both a state and a city in southeastern Brazil. ... This article is about the musical instrument. ... Image:Guitar. ... The cavaquinho is a small string instrument (like the ukulele) of the European guitar family with four wires or gut strings. ... Carved and round backed mandolins (front) A mandolin is a stringed musical instrument. ... A bass clarinet, which sounds an octave lower than the more common Bâ™­ soprano clarinet. ... Saxophones of different sizes play in different registers. ...

Structurally, a choro composition usually starts in a minor key, followed by a major key bridge, then a minor key finish (similar to a tango): AABBC. It's also common to repeat the first part, in accelerated tempo, to finish: AABBCA. Melodically, choro is a jazz-inflected samba in fast tempo. Tango music is traditionally played by an orquesta típica, which often includes violin, piano, guitar, flute, and especially bandoneon. ...

Much of the success of this style of music came from the early days of radio, when bands performed live on the air. By the 1960s, it had all but disappeared, being displaced by Bossa Nova and other styles of Brazilian popular music. However, in the late 1970s there was a successful effort to revitalize the genre, through TV-sponsored nation-wide festivals in 1977 and 1978, which attracted a new, younger generation of musicians. Thanks in great part to these efforts, choro music remains strong in Brazil. More recently, choro has attracted the attention of musicians in the United States, such as Mike Marshall, who have brought this kind of music to a new audience. For the past 25 years Mike Marshall has been at the vanguard of acoustic music as one of the world’s most accomplished and exciting string instrumentalists. ...

The name is believed to come from chorar, which means "to cry" in Portuguese.

Notable Brazilian choro musicians

• Pixinguinha
• Jacob do Bandolim
• Waldyr Azevedo
• Altamiro Carrilho
• Ernesto Nazareth

Pixinguinha is perhaps the most famous and prolific of the Brazilian Choro composers. ... Jacob do Bandolim (1918-1969) was a Brazilian composer and musician. ... Ernesto Júlio Nazareth (1863 - 1934) was a Brazilian composer and pianist, especially noted for his creative tango and Choro compositions. ...

Notable choro compositions

• "Brasileirinho"
• "Noites Cariocas" (Jacob do Bandolim)
• "Tico-Tico No Fubá" (Zequinha de Abreu)
• "Brejeiro" (Ernesto Nazareth)