Tio Chorinho is the first ensemble in Canada dedicated to performing Brazilian choro music. Founded over a decade ago, the group performs frequently throughout Toronto and southern Ontario, and has also toured parts of the US (California, Michigan, Maryland). The group’s debut album “Chora Brazil,” earned two Canadian Folk Music Awards nominations (World Music Album of the Year and Instrumental Group of the Year) and was described by Wholenote Magazine as “an absolute delight from start to finish…a terrific debut CD; play it on a grey day and your room will be filled with sunshine!”

Choro (pronounced SHOH-roh) is a primarily instrumental style originating in Rio de Janeiro in the late-19th century. Choro is the original Brazilian soul music, combining popular and classical European styles with Afro-Brazilian influences. It is the foundation of many modern Brazilian music styles, and is often described as “the New Orleans jazz of Brazil.” Exciting, energetic, soulful, intimate, nostalgic and virtuosic, choro is an infectious popular style whose universal appeal belies its musical complexity.