Mondo Chôro – Forjando O Caminho (self-release, 2025)
The first live album from the Spanish/Brazilian/Chilean/German quartet Mondo Chôro, Forjando O Caminho (Forging the Path), lands with the enthusiastic spark of a debut and the calm of a skilled band that knows exactly who they are. Forjando O Caminho presents seven tracks captured on a crisp December 2023 night at Jazzschmiede Düsseldorf.
“Vaidoso” kicks the set. Moacir Santos wrote the tune. Clarinet, piano, and guitar step forward one by one, each solo joyful and unforced, like friends finishing each other’s sentences.
“Receita de Samba” turns the heat up fast. Henrique Gomide, born in Brazil, flips the classic into a rhythm-and-color call-and-response creation. Álvaro Severino on guitar and Carl Zinsius on pandeiro while Anais Pasanau Miró and Gomide trade ideas that keep the groove fresh and the energy climbing.
“Migalhas De Amor” softens the lights and presents the mellow side of the band. Anais leans into a beautifully warm clarinet sound that hushes the room, and the surrounding trio gives space with real care, piano whispering, guitar brushing past, pandeiro breathing under the melody.
“Rosa” arrives as a clarinet-and-piano duet, tender and clear-eyed. The conversation feels intimate yet confident, a quiet nod to Pixinguinha and to every late-night choro circle where melodies drift into tomorrow.
The night closes on “Dino Pintando O Sete,” Sivuca’s salute to Dino, the legendary Brazilian seven-string master, and the band answers with playfulness and bite. Düsseldorf for a moment sounds like a sunlit patio in Rio, neighbors clapping along from the doorway.
Musicians: Anais Pasanau Miró on clarinet; Henrique Gomide on piano and accordion; Álvaro Severino on guitar; and Carl Zinsius on drum set and pandeiro
Mixed by Pablo Paredes
Cover design by Anais Pasanau Miró & Carl Zinsius
Buy Forjando O Caminho.
Author: Iliana Cabrera
