Ian Coury: “Benzinho” | Brazilian Choro Mandolin

Peghead Nation’s new Brazilian Choro Mandolin instructor plays a traditional two-part choro written by the great choro mandolinist Jacob do Bandolim.

By: Dan Gabel

May 1, 2022

We are excited to announce a brand new mandolin course with a great new instructor joining Peghead Nation! In Brazilian Choro Mandolin with Ian Coury, you’ll learn to play Brazilian choro music on the mandolin with young Brazilian virtuoso Ian Coury, from the classic sounds of Jacob do Bandolim to the modern style of Hamilton Holanda. Includes play-along tracks with Ian’s Brazilian backing band.

In this video, Ian plays “Benzinho,” a traditional two-part choro in the key of D minor written by the great choro mandolinist Jacob do Bandolim. Ian teaches it in his Brazilian Choro Mandolin course.

Ian Coury has been accruing professional awards and accolades since 2014, when he shared a stage with Brazilian choro legends Armandinho and Hamilton de Holanda at the age of 12. Today, he’s one of Brazil’s most-respected virtuosos of the ten-string mandolin. As he continues to push the boundaries of the instrument and of the choro genre, he has performed with such luminaries as Paquito D’Rivera, Claudio Roditi, and Toninho Horta, and has recently received two important awards: “Best Instrumentalist” in the National FM Radio Festival (2020), and second place (by popular vote) in Brazil’s eFestival (2021), both for performances of original compositions.

Ian comes from Brazil’s capital city, Brasília, where he began playing mandolin at age eight, studying with Marcelo Lima at the Raphael Rabello School of Choro. In 2019 Ian received a scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where, in his second year, he received the String Department Award, and has already taught a choro workshop at Harvard University. Before coming to the US to study, Ian had already made the journey to perform at NAMM (2017, 2018), but his professional trajectory in Brazil began much earlier: in 2014 he played both solo and with Armandinho at the Club do Choro in Brasília; in 2014 and 2015, he was recognized for his merits by the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Arts, History, and Literature; and in 2016 he appeared on the cover of Choro Magazine, and received a culture award from Brazil’s House of Representatives.

Take a look at Ian’s course introduction video on the main Brazilian Choro Mandolin page, and join us today! Use promo code IanLand at checkout to get your first month free!