Frevo

[gusl]

I was listening to a series of 1-minute song samples from Mike Marshall on Amazon.com. I wasn't really paying attention to the music, but then I noticed: THEY ARE PLAYING FREVO!. The song is titled "Karate" and is a new composition (1997). I am slightly choked up because this music only exists in my part of Brazil, and even there it's only played on very restricted occasions, like carnival and particular celebrations, such as when the home team wins or on New Year's Eve. I really like this music and I often play frevo-like patterns in my spontaneous composition. Although probably related to choro, frevo it is a distinct style (even though Mike Marshall's album is described as a choro album). Compared to Choro, Frevo is more suited to improvisation: Choro is beautiful but very structured.

By the way, Mike Marshall is another of the Béla Fleck / David Grisman / Darol Anger gang: eclectic bluegrass musicians who play absolutely anything with a melody, with a slight bent towards "world music". The sort of musician I aspire to be, in other words.