QUADROS MODERNOS

Forerunner of the "violão mineiro" (Minas style guitar), veteran Chiquito Braga associated with his disciples Toninho Horta and Juarez Moreira to get on a strings trip through subtle themes and no superfluous ornaments. The trio groups similar styles, as in the baiões Carioca (Chiquito Braga) and Barroco (Juarez Moreira), both performed with three acoustic guitars. On the first, the repeated beat adds new layers of chords to the percussive dock where they leave from and come back to. Each guitarist makes their own improvisation set while the rhythmic tension is maintained. The second earns a heraldic polishing in search for identification with local music counterpoints, flowing into the primitiveness of northeastern singers. There are more meditative themes, such as the soft waltz Prado, presented in two different versions, the ethereal Shamisen or the didactic Estudo Brasileiro, with a solo by Toninho Horta on a Fukuoka guitar. There’s also a superb performance and elegant phrasing by Chiquito Braga in the bossa nova Afternoons in Thailand (Toninho Horta). And on the track Homenagem a Radamés, Garoto e Jobim, Juarez Moreira imprints an air of choro where nostalgia pairs up with the smart harmonizing. Quadros Modernistas closes with a samba – and a pretty fast one – where acoustic guitar (Toninho), cavaquinho (Chiquito) and electric guitars (Juarez) are woven in refined swing.(Tárik de Souza)