Lamentos Do Morro

Lamentos Do Morro is one of Garoto’s most popular compositions. Garoto didn’t write down any of his music but this piece has been transcribed by many players most notably Paolo Bellinati. Raphael Rabello played a wonderful version which I love. It features a lot of flair and virtuosity typical of the more street style guitar playing of Brasil.

My understanding is that there is a bit of a class distinction in Brasil between classical guitarists that play Brasilian music and the more street style traditio0n passed down from player to player or teacher to player. Certainly, it seems that artists such as Yamandu Costa (who is not classically trained) have paved the way for more interest and opportunity the diverse Brasilian guitar idioms to emerge internationally.

Here are some versions of Lamentos Do Morro

Rapheal Rabello

Raphael’s version features harmonics and flourishes and is much faster. There is a real build throughout and the playing is unrestrained and has a semi-improvised feel.

Doug De Vries

This version combines the clarity of the Bellinati version with the flair and speed of Rabello. Players often add their own sections of semi-improvised material. While working on this piece I got together with Doug to talk about how he approached playing this. There are a lot of subtle thumb variations and staccato/accented parts. We talked about the Samba clave and where the accents should lie. Here is an excerpt from the bass part he uses, the first beat in never accented, more emphasis is placed on the anticipated beats.