Água de Moringa
For over 35 years of continuous activity in, and well beyond, their base in Rio de Janeiro, Água de Moringa has stood out for its sophistication and versatility. Over the decades they have interpreted a wide range of music, from the classics of Brazilian "música popular" to the most recent of contemporary compositions. Their roots, however, are firmly planted in traditional choro - an urban instrumental genre born in 19th century Rio, where the salon music of the Portuguese court merged with Afro-Brazilian lundu, modinhas and tango brasileiro to create a musical genre at once formal and improvisational, sophisticated and accessible, challenging and playful. Within that broad tradition, the group has developed a distinctive style that blends exquisite arrangements and refined instrumental performance with the informality of friends playing around a cafe table.
"The Água", as they are called by friends and fans, has ten albums to their credit covering a vast swath of Brazilian popular music, a very partial list of which would include works by Ernesto Nazareth, Radamés Gnattali, Pixinguinha, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Canhoto da Paraíba, Jacob do Bandolim, Cristóvão Bastos, Guinga, Hermeto Pascoal, Moacyr Luz and Joel Nascimento, not to mention compositions of their own. They have performed widely in Brazil and beyond, including tours in France, Portugal and Colombia. The group's instrumentation, while novel here in the US, is typical of a traditional choro ensemble: 6 and 7-string guitars, cavaquinho, bandolim, clarinet and pandeiro/percussion. Each group member is widely respected in his own right and involved in a variety of projects apart from The Água. You can see profiles of each of them individually on the Choro Camp New England website under the Artists tab.
They are joined for this performance – as they have been on many occasions – by singer, speech therapist, dancer, and movement director, Mariana Baltar. It was dance that led Mariana to music, starting as a singer with Paulo Moura and Cliff Korman's, "Gafieira Dance Brasil", which premiered at Lincoln Center in New York in 2001. For five years, she was part of the Lapa circuit in Rio de Janeiro, entertaining audiences at the Centro Cultural Carioca, where she was a founding partner. Since then she has released several albums, including one with Água de Moringa – a tribute to composer Aldir Blanc entitled, Os Arcos – Paixão e Morte.
