Choro (pronounced “shoh-roh”; the “cho” as in “show” from “show”, the “roh” as in “roh” from “rose” when pronounced with a Scottish accent), popularly called chorinho, is an instrumental genre of Brazilian popular music that originated in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1800s. The choro ensemble is called a “regional” and the musician, composer or instrumentalist is called a “chorão” (literally meaning “crier”). Despite its name, this type of music generally has a very bright and cheerful rhythm, characterized by virtuosity and improvisation of its participants. Choro represents the most typical Brazilian instrumental formation, as well as the oldest musical group in Brazilian popular music.

The choro ensemble traditionally consists of one or more solo instruments (flute, mandolin, clarinet or saxophone) and cavaquinho, guitars and pandeiro as accompaniment instruments. The cavaquinho performs rhythm and harmony, one or more 6-string guitars (along with a 7-string guitar) perform harmony and variations/modulations, the 7-string guitar acts as a bass, and the pandeiro establishes and maintains the rhythm of the music. The cavaquinho, despite its limited range, can also be used as a solo instrument.

Chorus is inherently a purely instrumental musical genre. In the very few cases of choruses with text, we can say that a significant part was written years after they were composed by the author, or even years after the composer’s death.

It can be said that choro originated in the city of Rio de Janeiro in the early 19th century, when the Portuguese royal family arrived in Brazil to escape Napoleon’s invasion and brought with them ten to fifteen thousand Europeans [1]. As a direct consequence, the city of Rio de Janeiro is undergoing unprecedented urban and cultural transformations. Musicians, new musical instruments, and new European rhythms enter the city and are immediately accepted by the local society. Soon the city of Rio de Janeiro becomes known, as the poet Araújo Porto Alegre says, as “the city of the piano.”

Choro emerged as a result of Brazilian musicians’ exposure to European musical styles, mainly polka (introduced to Rio de Janeiro in 1845), in a musical environment already heavily influenced by African rhythms, mainly lundu, which had been present in Brazilian culture since the late 18th century. Like ragtime in the United States, choro emerges from the influence of musical styles and rhythms coming from two continents: Europe and Africa.