Ragtime traces in the Brazilian choro Segura ele! [Hold him!] by Pixinguinha: composition and performance hybridization after the trip to Paris in 1922 [full paper]

Abstract

Analytical study about Segura ele! (Hold him!) and Um a zero (One by Zero), two choros by Brazilian composer and performer Alfredo da Rocha Vianna, known as Pixinguinha (1897-1973), the leading figure of the genre in the twentieth century. It is well known that after the historical trip of his choro group Oito Batutas (Eight Smarties) to Paris in 1922, where he met American jazz musicians, Pixinguinha introduced some stylistic innovations in the performance practices of choro. It shows traits of ragtime in Segura ele! and features of traditional choro, (a Brazilian popular music genre), in Um a zero, departing from lead sheets (PIXINGUINHA, 1919, 1929), historical recordings (PIXINGUINHA, 1998) and iconographic information. A comparison among formal, harmonic, rhythmic, motivic, instrumentation and iconographic elements reveal that Pixinguinha´s choro style was influenced by the US popular music genre in several levels, in the song Segura ele!. There is, still, a comparison between similar motives from Segura ele! and The Entertainer, composed by Scott Joplin, the most important composer of ragtime. Some considerations by Scott Joplin about how to play the ragtime are observed in the recording of Segura ele!. Finally, it is possible to visualize the difference between Um a zero that was composed in 1919, before the trip, and Segura ele!, composed in 1929, some years after the trip.