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Choro Music: Another title: Não resta a menor dúvida (There is no doubt about it).
AC: Não resta a menor dúvida is from the same time.
It was composed to honor a friend of mine who would agree with everything you would say to him
“Não resta a menor dúvida!” (There is no doubt about it!) –
you could say something he would never agree with,
and the answer would always be “Não resta a menor dúvida!”
Then I found that interesting, right? A kind of a mania, right?
Choro Music: Yeah. And this other here, O Chorinho do Rodrigo (Rodrigo’s Chorinho)?
AC: This I composed for the son of a guy who used to play cavaquinho with me;
he played for some years, then he was unable to play,
for he got seriously ill and spent months in treatment,
and I had to invite another player, who is still with me, Maurício Verde.
Choro Music: So this Chorinho do Rodrigo is kind of recent?
AC: Yes, he was the son of this cavaquinho player
who had to stop playing because of this disease. Fortunately he is well now, he is cured.
Choro Music: what year was that, what time?
AC: That was at the same time I composed...
Choro Music: “Não resta a menor dúvida”
AC: No, it was later on. Sorry, it was before.
Não resta a menor dúvida was composed in 97, approximately. A little before 2000.
Choro Music: Pra tia Amélia (For Aunt Amélia).
AC: Tia Amélia was a very aged pianist who still played at 92,
she played with the vibration of an 18-year-old girl. At that age her vitality was remarkable,
don’t know, it seemed that the woman was made of stainless steel...
she used to play some old maxixes, very interesting.
And she told me: “Altamiro, you are a good composer...” and I said: “Oh, there is no doubt about that...
(laughing) I’m not great, but I am a composer.
And she said: “Please write me a maxixe to start my shows with,
so I can start dancing while you play the signature tune.
It can be something small, a short piece, but something to be my own signature tune.” And I said: “all right.”
And I composed that one, Pra tia Amélia,
and it was so in accordance with what she wanted that she starting jumping for joy,
she even forgot her age, 91 going 92, it was amazing,
and she was a very nice person, she would talk to everyone, play with everyone.
She was from the Northeast.
Choro Music: When was that?
AC: That was around the time I composed “Não resta a menor dúvida”,
for in that year I composed a lot of stuff.
Choro Music: Early 90s?
AC: No, no, no, late 90s – what did I just say?
Choro Music: 97 was Chorinho do Rodrigo..
AC: Chorinho do Rodrigo! That was when I composed Pra tia Amélia, along with Vivaldino and so many others.
Choro Music: Oh, Vivaldino (Rascal) is here...
AC: Is it? I was going to talk about it.
Choro Music: Go ahead!
AC: Vivaldino is a Brazilian slang for a smart, intelligent guy, a rascal,
and in the end he suffers more than we do, right? Because of their trickeries, isn’t that right?
But anyway I was studying this concerto by Vivaldi in order to record it (and I did),
I even want to show you later, show it to the friends who haven’t heard it yet.
With a piccolo solo, string orchestra, wind instruments, horn, etc. It’s that concert (singing),
double and triple staccato, sometimes it has to be triple staccato (singing)
Choro Music: (singing)
AC: And the ending, I play Vivaldino with that Vivaldi ending.
Let me see here, let me check the score, I don’t remember quite well –
I was here thinking of something else, of soccer...
(singing)
Choro Music: You mean, it was a tribute to Vivaldi.
AC: A tribute to Vivaldi, the second part goes like (singing),
and I run through all these sonorities very smoothly, kind of smoothly, right?
(singing)
Then it goes (singing) all these things didn’t end up confuse, and we got there.