Forro Music Overview: 4 Notable Forro Music Acts

Forro, or forró-pé-de-serra, is an umbrella term that refers to a popular music genre and dance style from Brazil, as well as the events where musicians and dancers perform. Forro music draws on many musical styles, from Afro-Brazilian music like samba and baião to European polkas. On the other hand, forro dance borrows from Cuban salsa and Samba de Gafieira, a Brazilian ballroom dance.

The history of forro begins in northeastern Brazil during the 1940s:

• Beginnings: The precise origin of forro music is unclear, but scholars believe that its roots are in the farming communities in the sertão, or rural areas in the northeast of Brazil. There, laborers gathered to sing different styles of folk music and dance music at parties, including the percussive baião, which employs a large bass drum called a zabumba, as well as an accordion and a metal triangle. These instruments were foundational accompaniments to forro music.
• Etymology: Several theories surround the origin of the name “forro.” Some believe that it derives from “forrobodó,” a Brazilian term for a great party. Others, like popular Brazilian singer Gilberto Gil, suggest that the word came from signs posted outside dances held by English railroad engineers at the turn of the twentieth century and servicemen from the United States during World War II. In both cases, the dances featured signs indicating that they were exclusive or “for all,” so local Brazilians could also attend.
• Gonzaga’s contributions: Singer-songwriter and accordionist Luiz Gonzaga popularized forro outside of northeastern Brazil. Gonzaga, who hailed from the northeastern state of Pernambuco, relocated to Rio de Janeiro in the early 1940s and discovered an audience of fellow transplants hungry for music from their home. He began performing music from the region like baião, but added elements of Brazilian, Latin, and European music to create the sound of forro, with which he enjoyed numerous hits from the 1950s to the 1980s.
• Adapting the sound: As forro grew in popularity throughout Brazil, its core sound and accompanying dance—also called forro—changed with the influence of new sounds and rhythms. The 1980s and 1990s saw forro add elements of rock and pop; this new form, called forro electronico, added electric guitars and keyboards and encouraged new styles of forro dance.
• Forro around the world: The sound of forro has also spread to other countries: Talking Heads co-founder David Byrne launched Forro in the Dark, a New York–based group of Brazilian musicians that play a hybrid of forro, rock, and jazz. Forro festivals continue to take place annually in countries such as Russia, Japan, and Germany, which hosts the largest forro festival outside of Brazil in Stuttgart.

Several distinct characteristics define forro music and dance, including:

1. 1. Dance and rhythm: Forro encapsulates many different dance styles, from traditional to modern. Forro music has three basic rhythms—xote, which is slow; baião, which is more rhythmic; and arrasta pe, which is faster—and each has its own accompanying dance. The steps for these dances fall into two categories: nordestino, which is the traditional partner dance, and universitário, which features more elaborate choreography like salsa or bolero.
2. 2. Instruments: Traditional forro bands still feature the zabumba, triangle, and accordion, though some add acoustic guitar and fiddle. Others include instruments like the pifano, which is similar to a flute or fife, as well as a handheld drum called the pandeiro and the rabeca (or rebec), a bowed stringed instrument with Portuguese and Arabic origins. Forro electronico bands use a lineup similar to most rock and pop bands, with electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, and drums.
3. 3. Lyrics: Early forro songs, like Luiz Gonzaga’s classic “Asa Branca” concerned life for the people in northeastern Brazil, and addressed many personal subjects, such as the challenges of farming, leaving the sertão to find work, and the homesickness this caused. New forro songs hew closer to pop and rock, and focus on more universal themes, like romance and the pursuit of good times.

There are numerous notable forro artists. Among the most popular and enduring are:

1. 1. Dominguinhos: Latin Grammy winner José Domingos de Morais performed with Luiz Gonzaga from the 1950s to the 1970s while also enjoying a solo career that began in 1964. Known to audiences as Dominguinhos, he worked extensively as a composer and sideman in both forro and bossa nova, collaborating with such celebrated artists as Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso. Dominguinhos recorded and toured until his death in São Paulo in 2013.
2. 2. Falamansa: São Paulo’s Falamansa pays homage to forro’s past and present by blending the classic sound of forró-pé-de-serra, as performed by Luiz Gonzaga and contemporaries like Jackson do Pandeiro, with the pop-fueled contemporary sound of forró universitário. The quartet’s indie recordings became popular among college listeners, which led to a live recording for MTV Brasil in 2005; a contract with Sony/BMG soon followed, as did a Latin Grammy in 2014 for their album Amigo Velho.
3. 3. Luiz Gonzaga: The music of northeastern Brazil owes much to singer-songwriter Luiz Gonzaga. He synthesized traditional rhythms like baião and xote for mass audiences and helped to popularize forro throughout the country and eventually, the world. Though rock and roll blunted his string of hits in the 1960s, he returned to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s thanks to a new generation of Brazilian performers, like Gilberto Gil and Milton Nascimento, who paid homage to his cultural contributions.
4. 4. Elba Ramalho: The “Queen of Forro,” singer-songwriter and actress Elba Ramalho helped to revive interest in forro in the 1970s and 1980s after the music fell out of fashion at the height of bossa nova in the 1960s. Ramalho sang both traditional forro and a blend of American and Latin rock, pop, and dance. Ramalho earned a Latin Grammy in 2019 for her album O Ouro do Pó da Estrada.

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