Recorded on a show at Canto da Ema in São Paulo on November 2017.
Brazilian music has many facets. One of the most energetic local rhythms is from the Northeast of the country. It’s a place that is beautiful by the sea, but it is hard for people living in the country’s interior. No rain sometimes for years. But even this kind of stressful life can’t spoil the nature of the people there. They love a party.
Their music shows this kind of mood. We can trace its origins to Europe as the Northeast was colonized by Dutch, French, and Portuguese. The influential Catholic tradition defines the worship of the Northeastern people’s favorite saints: Saint Paul and Saint John. As you can imagine, their way of worshiping the saints is with parties. Huge parties.
The name “Forró” has controversial origins: some say that it goes back to when English engineers were in the region building railways in the early 1900. Others say that during WW2, the American Air Force had bases in the area. When they were not searching for nazi submarines, they were used to join the locals and partied! There were 2 different types of parties in both stories: foreigners only and “for all”. Most of the locals didn’t understand English, so they called the second type of parties, “Forró” (a word with a similar sound in Portuguese). The real origin indeed may be not so peculiar: Earlier than 1910s, there were written pieces of evidence of a type of party called “Forrobodó”. That’s why the music and the dance were named “Forró”.
Forró keeps on being hugely popular today. Its rhythm is terrific so few people can resist dancing. It represents the fun, the enjoyment found in the Northeast Brazil parties. That’s the case of the group in the next video. All of them have some kind of family ties with the North and Northeastern Brazil: Feeh Silva on “Zabumba”. Felipe Cordeiro on Guitar. Léo Rodrigues on tambourine. Marcelo Geneci playing “Sanfona” (similar to an accordion). Mariana Aydar – voice and Triangle. The composers are Sivuca and Gloria Gadelha. I dare you will not be able to stay put….
Brazil Drops 