Our 3rd Brazilian Choro Music Festival builds on the success of the first two of these events. The first festival was a celebration of the longevity of the roda de choro at the Couth Buzzard, now entering its 13th year. The second festival celebrated the richness of the choro community in the Puget Sound region, and the ecosystem of performing bands, annual Centrum workshops and the monthly roda that nutures the growing interest in choro and Brazilian culture more generally.

This third festival celebrates the newly formed Clube do Choro Cascádia, a nonprofit whose mission is to present educational opportunities, concerts, and participatory jams (rodas) for instrumentalists of all ages and abilities, and to broaden the reach of Brazilian choro music. This reflects the traditional role of a clube in Brasil to bring a community of people together to play, learn and promote choro, an engaging music that combines groove elements from Africa with classical melodic expression and harmony that is deeply Brazilian.

On Saturday night, the festival highlights featured artists Tim Connell on mandolin and Sean Watson on 7-string guitar, a duo that joins masterful talents from the traditional acoustic music world and that of social media streaming platforms. Long-time choro performers from Seattle, Port Townsend and Olympia fill out the schedule on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.

Jet City Choro - Friday, October 10 at 6:30 pm
7-string guitarist Jeff Coult and bandolim (Brazilian mandolin) player Naoyuki Sawada play traditional and modern Brazilian choro music from the late 19th century up to today. They put together this new project after long acquaintence that began at the monthly roda de choro at Couth Buzzard Books.

Chorando na Chuva - Friday, October 10 at 7:45 pm
Chorando na Chuva (Crying in the Rain) has performed around the Pacific Northwest since 2010, beginning under the name Choro Tocando. They now host the monthly roda de choro, and also frequently perform or offer workshops and rodas at BrasilFest and Northwest Folklife festivals. Although Brazilian choro music is the heart of Chorando na Chuva’s polished performance, the group also mixes it up with baião, samba, and xote for toe-tapping beats. Add more than a bit of song, and it’s a great time. Band regulars KTzinha (vocals and flute), Paul Korsmo (vocals and 7-string guitar), Arthur Knapp (cavaquinho and guitar) kick up the dust with guest percussionists Teresa Catford and Dinnen Cleary to fill out the low end.