POLCAS e BOAS

Polcas e Boas is a band which plays Brazilian music.  We are based near London​.  The players are:​

• KAREN AYTON   clarinet
• PAUL SPEED   cornet
• SIMON COOK   ophicleide
• HENRY STOBART   tuba
• STEVE PIERCE   cavaquinho and guitar
• MARTIN PYNE  percussion​

​Our main focus is the lively Brazilian music from the late 19th and early 20th century by such composers as Henrique Alves de Mesquita, Chiquinha Gonzaga, Ernesto Nazareth, Anacleto de Medeiros and Irineu de Almeida.

​Brazil has always been a dynamic melting pot for a wide range of cultures. From colonial times cultural assimilation and marriage between different ethnic groups was more widely accepted than in most other European colonies.  Genteel dances (such as polkas, Schottische, waltzes and quadrilles) imported from Europe were transformed by dynamic African syncopations into uniquely Brazilian genres such as lundu, xote, maxixe, tango Brasileiro (unrelated to Argentinian tango) and choro.
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Artwork by Bob Linney

For contrast and variety we also play music by more recent composers such as Pixinguinha, Jacob do Bandolim, Luiz Gonzaga, Sivuca and even Guinga and Hermeto Pascoal. 
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The band's name "Polcas e Boas" means "Polkas and other good music". It is also a word play on the Portuguese figure of speech "poucas e boas", which means something like "to have words with", or "give someone a piece of your mind".
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Banda do Corpo de Bombeiros directed by the composer Anacleto de Medeiros (seated in the middle of the front row with his arms crossed)

Poster by Bob Linney