Tico-tico no fubá

José Gomes de Abreu, better known as Zequinha de Abreu (1880-1935) was a Brazilian musician and composer. He was one of the prominent Brazilian composers of the ‘Belle Époque’, having contributed to the establishment of the choro genre.

Zequinha de Abreu is best known for the famous choro tune ‘Tico-tico no Fubá’ (1917), whose original title was ‘Tico-tico no Farelo’. Other well-known tunes he wrote were ‘Branca’ and ‘Tardes de Lindóia’. Because of the lack of written tradition, ‘Tico-Tico’ is played in various melodic versions all over the world.

Spanish arranger Sergio Rodríguez Pena arranged a very fine orchestral version of ‘Tico-tico no Fubá’ for Symphonic Band.