Anabel Montesinos plays Heitor Villalobos “A maré encheu“ from Guia prático W277 (II).

International Guitar Festival “Fernando Sor“ Guia prático is a large compilation of folk songs from various parts of Brazil. It was released by Villa-Lobos as part of his plan to reform the music educational system of Brazil, which he did through his position as director of the “Superindendência de Educação Musical e Artistica“ which he held from 1932 to 1944. The work was intended to be a practical guide to musical and artistic education. In 1932, Villa-Lobos released a set of 137 folk songs arranged for chorus. This was originally to be the first part of the first volume of a six-volume series. Guia prático was the title for the entire set; the first volume was to contain popular children’s songs. Unfortunately, he only ever completed the first volume. He did, however, produce five other volumes of choral music from folk, religious, and civic sources, also intended for instructional purposes for what he called ’orpheonic singing’.