Violao Brazileiro: 20th Century Brazilian Music For Guitar – Megarchiotis Panos

The guitar is Brazil’s national instrument and has played an important role in the evolution of Brazilian music, especially during the twentieth century. As a classical guitar student, I came across Brazilian guitar music already during my first years of studying and its unique charm and beauty fascinates me even after all these years.
The first time to present this repertoire in a thematical concert and to write about the Brazilian guitar music was at the final project of one of my Master programmes at the Zurich University of Arts. Since then I often give concerts based on this repertoire and my goal is to enrich it with pieces that are not often played or even unknown. It was a really difficult task to decide which pieces should be included in this album. I couldn’t resist playing some famous pieces that I love, but I also tried to include pieces that are not well known . There are so many wonderful Brazilian composers with lovely pieces and it’s impossible to include all of them in one album. Nevertheless, a purpose of this recording is to encourage the listener to investigate further the endlessly charming world of Brazilian guitar music.
Brazilian music is a unique blend of European harmony and melody, African rhythms and Native American culture. Starting in the 17th century, slaves from Africa brought along the impassioned drumming of their candomble rituals. The first Portuguese colonists added their ballads who were accompanied with cavaquinhos, the bandolim, bagpipes and the Portuguese guitar. Body movement, inspired largely by the undulating dances of the African slaves was incorporated into Brazilian music. Even European-imported dance rhythms like the polka and mazurka were adapted and tropicalized into the maxixe, a kind of tango that became popular during the 1920s.