One of the greatest challenges we face as North Americans who would like to play choro is finding others to play with. As the director of Choro Camp New England, I (Andrew) often get emails from people asking if I know someone who plays choro in [name your town.] Occasionally I can help, but as the choro community grows in North America, I can’t serve as personal choro-matchmaker for everyone. I need to practice, too!
Enter “The Choro Map,” which could provide all of us a simple way to find one another. It’s nothing more than a Google Map linked to a form. By filling out that short, simple form, you can let people know:
- Your name (first, last, or both)
- Your general location
- Your instrument(s)
- Your choro experience level (novice, intermediate, etc.)
- How to contact you (by email, or—for more security—through a private message on the Choro Forum)
Your entry then becomes a pin on the map. At a glance we could have a bird’s eye view of the choro community in North America—and watch it grow!
Please note the following:
- The Choro Map is not automatically updated when you fill out the form. I will have to manually update the map occasionally. That’s no trouble for me, and it offers us another layer of protection against spam and such.
- I’ve only included the US and Canada. This is simply to clarify our focus. If folks want to set up Choro Maps for Europe, Brazil, or other areas, it’s easy to do. I hope they can learn from our experience.
- The map will only be useful to the extent that we participate by making ourselves visible. I hope you’ll be willing to give it a try. You can, at any point, remove yourself from the map for whatever reason.