Choro
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Choro, also popularly called chorinho, is an instrumental Brazilian popular music genre which originated in 19th century Rio de Janeiro. Despite its name, the music often has a fast and happy rhythm. It is characterized by virtuosity, improvisation and subtle modulations, and is full of syncopation and counterpoint. Choro is considered the first characteristically Brazilian genre of urban popular music. The serenaders who play choros are known as chorões.
Joaquim Callado (1848-1880) is considered one of the creators of the choro genre of music.
Instruments commonly played in choro, from left to right: the seven-string guitar, the acoustic guitar, the mandolin, the flute, the cavaquinho and the pandeiro.
Polka
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Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas.
Street musicians in Prague playing a polka
Polka, c. 1840
People dancing polka in Tampere, Finland in 2006