A lucky night

When I was leaving Portland, many friends asked me "what do you have planned in Salvador?" and I was very pleased to be able to answer "Nothing." I knew that if I went with no plans, interesting things would just happen anyway - they always do.

All I was expecting was just to get some practice time in with my pandeiro. I didn´t think I´d find any choro groups to see - choro´s really from Rio, not Salvador - but I was looking forward to just practicing a bit on my own. The only other goal I had in mind for this trip was to visit the little town of Praia do Forte, to see the sea turtle conservation project up there, since I´ve recently started working on sea turtles, and whales too, in the US.

So anyway - on one of my little forays through the Cana Brava music store, the lovely attendant there told me there was a good choro group in town that would be playing out at Rio Vermelho. That evening I hiked the whole way from Barra to Rio Vermelho - wore a hole in my flipflops, literally - just to see the choro group, Grupo Mandaia.

And they were FANTASTIC. I was stunned. Somehow I had not thought I´d find that quality of choro, or even any choro at all, in Salvador, but it turns out there is a pretty active little scene with 3 or 4 groups.

I was sitting right up front and center the whole time, in a fairly empty restaurant. I must have stuck out a bit, because the guitarist came up afterwards to ask where I was from. We chatted a bit about how choro´s been spreading in the US, and it emerged that I was learning choro-style pandeiro.

All I said was that I was "learning" pandeiro, but the guitarist immediately invited me to sit in for a couple of tunes at their next show on Saturday night.

Saturday night arrived and with some trepidation I carried my little pandeiro all the way back to Rio Vermelho.

I became progressively more nervous as I realized again, watching them play, the very high quality of musicianship in the group. The pandeiro player, a fellow by the name of Raul Pitanga, is one of the best pandeiro players I´ve seen yet. (www.myspace.com/raulpitanga - check out his bio, he´s got a formidable background - and yes, he teaches.) Extraordinarily nimble and agile with his fills, while also very sensitive to the tune - not showing off, just enhancing the tune magnificently; exactly the pandeiro style I am aiming for.

And the cavaquinho player was great. Both guitarists were great. The mandolin player was great. Hands like FIRE, all of them. Brilliant solos and tossing in liquid arpeggios all over the place. What had I gotten myself into?

I was sort of hoping they would forget they´d invited me to sit in, but eventually the guitarist, Lula, came over to ask me what tunes I was most familiar with. I picked two of the absolute most famous tunes, the ones every choro player knows, and that are not too fast: Cochichando and Noites Cariocas.

And up I went to the stage. Fortified by a Lemon Drop (Lemo-Droppee) that was a definitely a little stronger than I´d realized, which made the whole experience rather dreamlike and surreal. Suddenly I was up there on stage in Salvador playing with this absolutely fantastic choro band.

I didn´t dare try any fills - I´m still kind of crap at fills (I´ve had a whole year off of pandeiro recently and have lost what few little licks I´d had). But I knew that one thing I can do well on pandeiro is just to hold a decent choro groove with a pretty nice swing. And I know where the classic stops fall in Noites Cariocas. And so that´s all I did. Held the groove, hit the classic stops.

They looked SO relieved as soon as I started to play - after all, I was a totally unknown quantity and I´d detected a certain apprehension among the band as we were preparing to start. But as soon as we got going, I could almost see them thinking, "Oh! This is going to go fine! Whew!" The mandolin player next to me shot me a huge smile.

Cochichando went fine. I tried to leave then, but there was a chorus of, no, no, stay, play another one, let´s do Noites Cariocas! The magnificent pandeiro player Raul joined me on tamborim-taps for Noites Cariocas. And they played SUCH BEAUTIFUL SOLOS on Noites Cariocas, guitar and cavaquinho and mandolin, and even Raul´s subtle little tap patterns were so cool, and it was just such an honor to just be holding the groove, for them to do those beautiful solos.

Noites Cariocas wrapped up with the ever-so-familiar classic ending, just like on the old Jacob de Bandolim recordings that I practice to. So I successfully nailed the ending and managed to sail off the stage feeling like I´d done a decent job. Nothing flashy, but a decent job.

At the end of the show they all came clustering around saying Parabens, parabens! Come next thursday! We´re here every Thursday and Saturday, come play with us whenever you can! (- and that´s when I knew I´d acquitted myself well). Even when I said that I was about to leave Brazil in a few days, and wouldn´t be back till December, they said: Be sure to bring your pandeiro in December! We´ll be here every Thursday and Saturday in December too!

WOW, what a wonderful opportunity and what a great connection to have made. To be able to sit in with a native Brazilian choro ensemble of this caliber is something I never thought I would be able to do.

That was huge stroke of luck #1. Huge stroke of luck #2 was: When I sat down again at my little table, right after my little triumph of remembering the Noites Cariocas ending, a lovely Brazilian girl at the table next to me complimented me - in English - on my pandeiro playing. Turned out she (1) plays pandeiro, (2) is fluent in English, (3) is a marine biologist (!) who knows all the whale people and turtle biologists at Praia do Forte(!!). I couldn´t believe it. She said, "Let´s go up to Praia do Forte together and I´ll introduce you to everybody!" (!!!)

What are the chances? What a lucky, lucky night.