Doce de Coco

When I was visiting Portugal in 2025 I saw an informal Choro group at bar Tipica de Alfama. I had my descant recorder with me and back at the apartment I played some choro on that. I decided that recorder, while rarely encountered in the standard choro tracks I have come across, is a great choro instrument. The reason is that it encourages quite a bit of subtlety in both articulation and dynamics, notwithstanding its quite small dynamic range. See what you think.

I am also experimenting with adding improvisatory touches, while being conscious that the choro genre demands that improvisation should be done with great sensitivity to the style of the genre.

 

“Doce de Coco” means “Coconut Sweet”. It is indeed a beautiful, sweet choro by Jacob do Bandolim. The excellent backing is from Fermata do Brasil / Rio Musical Lida (1951) as supplied by Choro Playbacks.