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Tico Tico reel

Also known as Tico Tico No Fubá, Tico, Tico.

There are 14 recordings of this tune.

Tico Tico has been added to 97 tunebooks.

Download ABC

Three settings

X: 1
T: Tico Tico
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Bmin
F=F^F|"Bm"G2FB2 F=F^F|"F#7"G2Fc2 F=F^F|GFec ^AFE^D|"Bm"D3^A B^A=A^G|
"Em"G2Be2 GBe|"Bm"F2Bd2 FB^B|"C#7"~c3d cB^AB|"F#"c3c2 F=F^F|
"Bm"G2FB2 F=F^F|"F#7"G2Fc2 F=F^F|GFec ^AFE^D|"Bm"D3^A B^A=A^G|
"Em"GBeG BeGB|"Bm"FBdF Bd(3F^Ac|"F#"fFfg fedc|"Bm"B3 B2:|
K:D
FG^G|"D"A2^GA2 ^GA^A|"Em"B2G3 FG^G|"A7"ACEA CEc=c|"D"B2F3 ddF|
dFdF cFcF|"Em"B2G3 =C^CE|"A7"c2GB2 FG^G|"D"A2F3 =F^FG|
ADFA DFA^A|"Em"BEGB Edc/=c/B|"A7"ACEA CEA^A|"D"BF~F2 FAdc|
"G"B^ABc "G#dim"edcd|"D/A"fg^ga "B"ba=gf|"Em"edcB "A"AGFE|"D"D3 D2:|
K:B
Bdf|"B"bBdf aBdf|gBdf gfdB|bBdf aBdf|"C#m7"gGce gecG|
bGce aGce|"F#9"gGce gecG|bGce aGce|"B"gBdf gfdB|
bBdf aBdf|gBdf gfdB|"G#"~g3=a gfed|"C#m"gfed "B/D"cBA=A|
"E"G=A^AB "Fdim"cBAB|"B/F#"de=f^f "G#"gfed|"C#m"cBAG "F#"FEDC|"B"B,3 B,2:|
X: 2
T: Tico Tico
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Bmin
F^EF |:"Bm"GF2B2 F^EF | "F#7"GF2^A2 F^EF | GFec ^AFE_E | "Bm"D3^A B^A=A^G |
"Em"GB2e2 GBe | "Bm"FB2d2 FB^B | "C#7"~c3d cB^AB | "F#"c3c2 F^EF |
"Bm"GF2B2 F^EF | "F#7"GF2^A2 F^EF | GFec ^AFE_E | "Bm"D3^A B^A=A^G |
"Em"GBeG BeGB | "Bm"FBdF Bd(3F^Ac | "F#"fFfg fedc |[1 "Bm"B3 B2 F^EF:| [2 "Bm"B3 B2 c=cB ||
"C#"|:"D"ADFA DFA^A | "Em"B2G3 FG^G | "A7"AcEA cEc=c | "D"B2F3 ddF |
dFdF cFcF | "Em"B2G3 ccE | "A7"c2GB2 FG^G | "D"A2F3 =F^FG|
ADFA DFA^A | "Em"BEGB Edc/2=c/2B | "A7"AcEA cEA^A | "D"BF~F2 FAdc |
"G"B^ABc "G#dim"edcd | "D/A"fAdf "B"bagf | "Em"edcB "A"AGFE |[1 "D"D3 D2c=cB:|[2"D"D3 D2z3|]
X: 3
T: Tico Tico
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Amin
E^DE |: F E2 A2 E^DE | F E2 ^G2 E^DE | FEdB ^GFD^C | C4- CA^G=G |
F A2 d2 FAd | E A2 c2 cB^A | BB,E^G BcB^A | B z z e z E^DE |
F E2 A2 E^DE | F E2 ^G2 E^DE | FEdB ^GFD^C | C4- CA^G=G |
F A2 d2 FAd | E A2 c2 EAc | BB,E^G edcB |1 A4- AE^DE :|2 A4- ABA^G ||
|:[K:Cmaj]GCEG CEG^G | A2- A F2 BA^G | GB,DG B,DG^G | A2- A E2 ccc |
cBB B2 AAA | AFF F2 BBB | BGGB AFFA | G4- GBA^G |
GCEG CEG^G | A2- A F2 BA^G | GB,DG B,DG^G | A2- A E2 cB^A |
A^GAB dcBc | eGce g^f=fe | dcBA GFED |1 C4- CBA^G :|2 C4- CA^ce ||
|:[K:Amaj] aAAg AAfA | fAAe AAfA | fAAe AAfA | fBBe BBfB |
aBBg BBfB | fBBe BBfB | aBBg BBfB | fAAe AAfA |
aAAg AAfA | fAAe AAfA | fecA fecA | B^ABc d4 |
B,CDE FGAB | cd^de fe=dc | BAGF EDCB, |1 A,4- A,Ace :|2 A,8 |]

Twenty-one comments

Tico Tico

Theme from one of Radio na Gaeltachta’s programs, I think played on the accordion by Dermot Byrne.
More of a South American type Tango than a reel.
Pretty cool tune!

Very nice tune! Quite impossible on most instruments, I’m afraid (I play a keyless flute!), but I’d love to hear a "real" instrument playing it (rather than the cheezy MIDI piano).

Impressive and industrious transcribing, there, daithic!

If you can find a copy of Peter Ostroushko’s "Buddies of Swing", Red House Records RHR17, there is a version of him and Jethro Burns doing it as a mandolin duet with general accompanyment of guitar , bass, violin etc., that really cooks. Granted, not traditional Irish but very good pickin’ none the less.

We’ve been playing this in our session for a quite while now. Our banjo player, Paul, brought it back with him from one of his trips, to Brazil I think. He’s the only one who can really play the melody line properly. We play it in probably an easier key, starting in Am then A then C, for each part.

Posted by .

An oldie.
Its Brazilian composer, Zequinha Abreu, died in 1935. "Tico tico no fubá" translates, according to one source, as "Tico Tico bird in the cornmeal,"

Posted by .

Dermot Byrne learned it from Fintan Stanley and recorded it on his solo CD, issued in the US on Green Linnet.

Down to A

Pierre Schryer plays it down a tone in Am/ C/ A which makes it much easier on fiddle

Tico Tico

Surprised to see this tune on the Session as a reel, but I was looking for the sheet music so that was handy.
Tico Tico is a samba that was very popular in the 1940s Featured in the 1944 movie ‘Bathing Beauties’ by Ethel Smith on the Hammond Organ and she made it her own and recorded it on a 78 rpm record. Tico Tico was usually performed by most dance bands from that era and featured the Piano Accordionist. It actually became a party piece for accordionists. I heard Dave Harper making a fine job of it on the Banjo

Tico Tico

The posted key is perfectly playable on the fiddle (you’ve only got to learn how to finger the little chromatic bits and learn the Bmaj scale for the last part), and am I correct in guessing that this tune must be a first on this website for having a section in Bmaj?
Would it be easily playable on a B/C?

Brilliant Kenny!

Re: Tico Tico

Love this tune. Started working on it using chromatic, week before Christmas 2016. Perseverance and patience.

Re: Tico Tico – a whistle version

A great tune for practicing half-holing on the whistle. One or two of the notes are outside the range of my (low D) whistle so I’ve taken the liberty of reining them in by an octave. I also adjusted the rhythm where appropriate (e.g. in bar 2) to give it the tango snap. Sadly the third part of the tune transposes to the key of B which is above my pay grade on a D whistle so I’ve left it out here!

X:2
T:Tico Tico (Whistle Version)
M:4/4
L:1/8
F:https://thesession.org/tunes/4357
R:tango
K:Bm
z4zF^EF |:"Bm"GF2B2 F^EF | "F#7"GF2^A2 F^EF | GFec ^AFE_E | "Bm"D3^A B^A=A^G |
"Em"GB2e2 GBe | "Bm"FB2d2 FB^B | "C#7"~c3d cB^AB | "F#"c3c2 F^EF |
"Bm"GF2B2 F^EF | "F#7"GF2^A2 F^EF | GFec ^AFE_E | "Bm"D3^A B^A=A^G |
"Em"GBeG BeGB | "Bm"FBdF Bd(3F^Ac | "F#"fFfg fedc |[1 "Bm"B3 B2 F^EF:| [2 "Bm"B3 B2 c=cB |
"C#"|:"D"ADFA DFA^A | "Em"B2G3 FG^G | "A7"AcEA cEc=c | "D"B2F3 ddF |
dFdF cFcF | "Em"B2G3 ccE | "A7"c2GB2 FG^G | "D"A2F3 =F^FG|
ADFA DFA^A | "Em"BEGB Edc/2=c/2B | "A7"AcEA cEA^A | "D"BF~F2 FAdc |
"G"B^ABc "G#dim"edcd | "D/A"fAdf "B"bagf | "Em"edcB "A"AGFE |[1 "D"D3 D2c=cB:|[2"D"D3 D2z3|]

Tico Tico, X:2

Sorry that I just listed this adapted whistle version in raw ABC notation first time around when it is more sensible to include it as a ‘setting’, which I have now done.

Tico Tico, X:3

Setting suitable for fiddle, mandolin etc, from various sources. The C part has been particularly adapted to fit the fiddle with a shuffle bowing which I think fits the instrument, although not authentically true to the original. I had fun researching and trying different things with this. The order of parts varies according to different sources, such as AABACABAA. It’s presented here as AABBCC - do with it what you will 🙂

Re: Tico Tico

thank you Steve Owen, great version!

Re: Tico Tico

This is not a tango, it is a choro.