Talk:Forró

Better organizing the article
There is no conclusive theory as to the origin of the name, so I suggest that the section on the theories go into a curiosity section at the end.

There should be general introduction to Forró: that it is a style of regional music and dance, explaining its history a bit, Luiz Gonzaga etc. "Popularity" is not a good section title btw...

and then there should be two parts that go a bit into technical detail, one about the music and one about the dance.

Please make suggestions. Aszlisna (talk) 18:57, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

Untitled
The purported explanation for the origin of the word sounds like an urban legend to me. Does anybody have a source? Tuf-Kat 19:29, Apr 1, 2005 (UTC)

I did a bit more of research, and the origin still divides people. I found a book by Câmara Cascudo, a Brazilian folklorist, who believes that it originated from "forrobodó". He is very well respected in Brazilian academia, so I deferred to him. At the same time, the other "urban legend" origin, even if in fact incorrect, is very much the popularly held belief in the region. There was even a movie produced which somewhat reinforced the USAF theory. In my opinion, whichever theory is correct, they should both be addressed here. --Dali-Llama 13:32, 4 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Definitely agree all prominent theories should be mentioned, even if those definitively disproved. Tuf-Kat 20:43, Apr 4, 2005 (UTC)

I removed edits by unnamed. Forró is not necessarily fast-paced and hands are not necessarily held.--Dali-Llama 23:11, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

Um...I'm not really sure how this works since I've not done it before...but I did a bit of research on forró for an essay, and I've danced it in southern Brazil and here in London too...maybe this would be helpful... Sincerely, Victoria

A STUDY OF ONE MUSICAL GENRE

Brazil is a huge country and although genres such as samba and bossa nova have achieved worldwide recognition, this is not the case with all of Brazil’s music. This case study will explore the genre forró, a popular form of social dance music from the interior of northeast Brazil. The northeast region of Brazil covers an area that is roughly 20% of Brazil’s entire landmass, and the interior is largely sertão, a rocky, arid hinterland. Music from this type of ecological-geographic zone in Brazil is given the generic term sertanejo, which loosely translates into the English idea of “folk” or “country” music. Forró as a musical genre is inextricably linked to the dance style that it accompanies. This soundscape emerged at the turn of the twentieth century from a number of different music and dance genres in the northeast region of Brazil.

The origin of the term forró is still somewhat under dispute with two popular theories to choose from. If you were to ask most Brazilians where the term came from they would probably allude to the more popular idea that forró is a mispronunciation of the English words “for all”, and proceed to tell you either the scenario of the British who came to lay the “Great Western” railroads at the beginning of the twentieth century in the city of Pernambuco, or that of the Americans from US military bases in Natal (another city in the northeast) during the second World War, either of whom were said to throw parties that were open to everyone, or “for all”. Most connoisseurs, however, would agree that the term derives from a word of African origin forrobodó, multiple meanings of which are given, most serving to describe a high-spirited, somewhat disorderly, party atmosphere. From this description the learned writer and folklorist Luís de Câmara Cascudo coined the definition of forró as a “common, second-rate dance”. [from the online Dicionário Cravo Albin da Música Popular Brasileira] Today the term is still often used to refer to a party or dance where forró music will be played. “Vamos no forró!” Lets go to the forró!

Unsurprisingly, although it has long been popular in the northeast of Brazil, Cascudo’s definition led the music and dance of forró to be regarded as a regional style with little value elsewhere. This perspective was altered by the emergence of a series of records by musicians such as Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento and Jackson do Pandeiro in the 1950s. This period of Brazilian history also saw a large migration of peoples from the northeast moving further south. Coupled with the construction of the country’s capital Brasilia this served to spread forró into other regions of Brazil. Forró then saw a surge in popularity in the 1970s, principally due to interest generated by university students, followed by a low point in the 1980s when Brazilian rock came to the fore.

As mentioned previously, forró is a style of music and dance that developed from more than one different genre. The music today illustrates this by not actually conforming to one particular rhythm. As with most dance music, there is a regular isometric metre. Although the dance steps for forró tend to retain a simple pattern of right-left-right-pause, left-right-let-pause throughout (for the male dancer, his female partner does a mirror image of these steps), the musical accompaniment is not actually one specific rhythm. Forró is an amalgamation of different rhythms “an all-encompassing term to express the richness of rhythms such as xaxado and baião”[Leitão, E., July 2004] arrasta-pé, xote etc, combined to form a genre of music and dance. The basic baião rhythm for the zambumba (large bass drum) is illustrated below:

o × x O O × x ×

o = soft mallet strike O = loud mallet strike x = stick strike. × = rest

The second strong beat then became discarded and the rhythm progressed into a more syncopated version that combines with a triângulo (triangle) part stressing beats 2, 3, 5, and 7, again shown below:

Triângulo	 ° · · ° ° · · ° Zambumba	O × x o × × ×  x

· = accented note ° = unaccented note

The zambumba [fig.1] is a large bass drum strung around the neck and shoulders of the player. The underside is struck with a thin light stick to give a high-pitched sound while the upper side is struck with a softer mallet to give the open bass tone. The two sides of the drum are generally not struck simultaneously.

Figure 1: Zambumba

The composition of a forró band developed from what is called a banda de pifanos (band of pifanos). These groups consist of two pifanos (small transverse fifes, originally made of bamboo), a zambumba, and a caixa (snare drum), and are seen throughout the northeast region of Brazil, playing at both religious and secular festivals. The secular dance music is where forró began and the repertoire is now often shared between the two types of groups. With the introduction of the sanfona (accordion), brought over to Brazil from Italy in the 1800s and taken up to the northeast during the 1860s, and the simultaneous spreading of both European and Latin American social dances, the convention of accordion-accompanied dance music grew to become traditional in the northeast. The pifano [fig.2] is still seen in some forró bands but commonly the group came to comprise of sanfona, zambumba and triângulo. Other instruments such as the agogô (metal double bell), ganzá (metal cylindrical shaker, similar to a tambourine), bamboo scraper, and violão (guitar) are also frequent additions. Often one of the instrumentalists will also sing, if not. there will generally be a singer as well. Purely instrumental forró music is almost never seen/heard.

The make-up of this traditional trio of forró players is often attributed to Luiz Gonzaga (1912-89), and the development from the original rhythm of the baião to the pattern that is forró today also began in the late 1950s/early 1960s when Gonzaga released most of his hit records.

Figure 1: Pifano player (dressed for a Festa Junina)

A forró revival happened in the late 1990s when university student musicians began to combine instruments from the rock scene (e.g. electronic guitar, bass, keyboard, drum kit etc) with the traditional sanfona, zambumba, and triângulo trio. Romanticised lyrics developed and cover songs of both well-known Western popular classics, and other genres of Brazilian national music were also incorporated into the repertoire of many of these bands. By the turn of the century these types of forró band were a huge success [fig.3] and the style became known as Forró Universitário. Falamansa, one of the groups that emerged during this period, sold in the region of one million copies of their first CD!

As seen previously, the genre is something that appears to have been most successful with the student population. Musicians do not necessarily have to take part in any specific training regime, and new compositions are welcomed to the scene. Particularly good sanfona players are, however, quite revered, and the ability to play forró in the true traditional three-piece style is something upon which many bands now focus their efforts.

Figure 3: Forró bands today

Forró today still exists in both the form rock-influenced Forró Universitário, and in a more traditional style called Forró Pé de Serra that harks back to its origins as an accordion-led trio of musicians.

Throughout Brazil one finds clubs that play forró on a weekly basis. There is often a regular in-house band that will play covers of the more popular forró songs by the well-known bands (e.g. Colo de Menina by Falamansa), as well as their own compositions. As with most clubs, there is a bar, and alcohol is available. As a result of this, those that frequent the forró tend to be in the age bracket of 18-30 years old. Both the music and the dancers continue until the early hours of the morning. The specific season of forró, however, is definitely during the month of June and the Festa Junina, huge outdoor parties thrown in honour of São João (St. John), Santo Antônio (St. Anthony), and São Pedro (St. Peter), whose saint days fall on the 24th, 13th and 29th of June respectively. The month of June is during the Brazilian winter and typically coincides with the rains and the corn harvest in most northern states. The festivities are held to thank the saints for the rains and the crops, and to pray for a good year to come. In true over-exaggerated “country” style, children and adults alike take part in the tradition of dressing up in checked shirts, straw hats [fig.1&4], freckles and pigtails for the girls, blacked-out teeth etc. Typically the best-dressed couple are crowned as King and Queen of the party and a mock marriage is conducted towards the end of the festivities. Stalls with fairground amusement-type games are often set up, and food and drink is provided in abundance, corn-based dishes, quentão (a drink similar to mulled wine), and a vast array of both sweet and savoury delights. Forró (usually the traditional, forró pé de serra) is played while participants dance the quadrilha (similar to square dancing) and couples jump over the fogueira (bonfire), a symbol of life and fertility. As with most Brazilian parties or festivals, everything and everyone is colourful and lively. Fireworks are often set off and in general a good time is to be had by all.

Figure 4: Singer and sanfona player from a forró trio dressed in the check shirts and straw hats seen typically at Festas Juninas

Outside of Brazil forró has also received some popularity. The USA in 2003 saw the emergence of fusion bands incorporating forró into other musical styles such as ska, reggae, samba, rock etc. Clubs with forró nights also opened up and are still going strong. Here in London a Brazilian Bar called Guanabara holds a forró night Sunday, which includes an hour-long lesson followed by a night of music, often with a live band.

The dance itself is a closely danced, couples dance led by the man [fig.5]. Due to changes in the tempo of the music it oscillates between being the extremes of really quite slow and exceptionally fast. The basic step (as mentioned previously) remains the same throughout and is interspersed with turns and the occasional freeze etc. It’s great fun to watch, and even better to dance!

Figure 5: The dance in action

As a musical genre, forró has a wide range of future possibilities. The three-piece accordion-led group is something that will doubtless retain its popularity, especially in June at the Festa Juninas. It remains to be seen, however, what steps the genre will introduce and adopt stemming from both Brazilian national influences and those from abroad. Judging from continuous enthusiasm for both Forró Pé de Serra and Forró Universitário it would appear that its impact and inspiration is certainly still at the fore of much Brazilian popular culture, and the robust, frenetic sound of “the strongest, most foot-tapping rhythm Brazil has to offer” [Cleary, D., 1994], will likely continue to infiltrate the Western musical scene.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: ·	Cleary, D., 1994, Meu Brasil Brasileiro: If they had a World Cup for music, Brazil would give anyone a game, In The Rough Guide to World Music, ed., Broughton, S., et al. ·	Crook, L., 1998, Brazil: Northeast Area In The Garland Encyclopaedia of World Music ·	Fryer, P., 2000, Rhythms of Resistance: African Musical Heritage in Brazil. Pluto Press ·	Nidel, R., 2005, World Music: The Basics, Routledge

INTERNET SOURCES: ·	Article on Forró written for the Instituto Cultural Cravo Albin, 2002, Dicionário Cravo Albin da Música Popular Brasileira. http://www.dicionariompb.com.br/ ·	Leitão, E., July 2004, review of the CD Casa de Forró http://musicabrasileira.org/reviewsinterviews/forro.html ·	Mercer, M., 2003, All Things Considered, an article on Forró from http://www.npr.org ·	de Souza, T., Forró: A festa que virou gênero musical http://cliquemusic.uol.com.br/br/home/home.asp ·	Photos by Firmofer, I., from her site http://www.travel-impressions.de/index.htm

DISCOGRAPHY: ·	Various Artists, Planeta Forró, released 2003 on Deck Produções Artísticas Ltda ·	Falamansa, Deixa Entrar, released 2000 on Deck Produções Artísticas Ltda ·	Rastapé Fale Comigo, released 2000 on Deck Produções Artísticas Ltda ·	Various clips from the Internet…

WORD COUNT: 1903 words

Sorry the pics didn't come out! Victoria


 * Victoria, this is great! Try to incorporate it into the article!--Dali-Llama 12:12, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Yeah, it's really great! You can incorporate it into the article by editing the page (just like you did this talk page) and adding the information to what's already there.  You should create links to other articles on Wikipedia by putting the article title in double brackets - Brazil will produce Brazil - if you really want to know how to format and lay everything out, see WP:CITE and WP:MoS for starters (if you don't follow all those rules, that's fine, someone will fix it up later, but you want might want to peruse them).  It looks like there were some images in your original essay; if you own the copyright to them and would like to release them under a free license, you can upload them (there's an "upload file" link on the left side of the page).  If not, we'll have to cope without images for now.  Let me know if you have any questions. Tuf-Kat 21:48, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

The 2nd and 3rd theory is false
The origin of the forró comes from the reduction of the forrobodó, that means, besides arrasta-pé (drag-foot).

In what language does forrobodó mean drag-foot?!?

Portuguese of Brazil! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 189.81.107.10 (talk) 04:43, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

Hungarian etymology of forro has no credible evidence provided. I know no similar act of importing a name without a denotation (a thing named by the name) from totally alien and incomprehensible language, moreover the language having no influence, very small bunch of users and no other cultural footprint there. I'd like to remove this etymology from the article.

Regarding the contoversy between forrobodo and for-all both need more sources to prevail. I'm not a Brazilian speaker however I'm interested in this language and culture. From my personal view the for-all theory is more often cited and looks well grounded - but for sure it isn't a definite proof. So we need more NPOV wording here and some sources.

--Marqoz (talk) 20:25, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

Master's Thesis on Forró
Last year for my MSc in Anthropology I wrote my thesis on forró in the Brazilian Northeast. I concentrated my work on the dichotomization of Brazil into "traditional" and "modern" and focused on identity building through music. My interest lay in the reemergence of forró as a popular music and dance form beginning in the late 1990's and continuing. I examined issues of authenticity and social class in relation to forró in particular and other music considered Northeastern (nordestina). Most of my fieldwork was done in and around the cities of Olinda and Recife in Pernambuco state.

I posted a link to my blog which contains the thesis (albeit in blog format) as well as just general information about the research process and fieldwork. Any advice, suggestions, or inquiries much appreciated!

Kevin Cassidy

Where to Experience Forró
This section seems out of place in an encyclopedia article. I think it should be removed. All locations listed are in Rio de Janeiro. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.128.167.68 (talk) 18:53, 18 June 2010 (UTC)
 * I agree, and I have removed this section. --Cholling (talk) 12:28, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

Suggested Video of an example of Forró
I am working with the Global Lives Project. There is a video of a man in Brazil playing Forró music I would like to add to the page. You can view the video here at around 9 minutes in. I intend to shorten the duration of the video to only include the portion where Forró is being played. Any thoughts? Dchein (talk) 20:35, 8 June 2012 (UTC)


 * It is possible to take a link - from youtube - with at a determined time, time stamp. But I do not know how.
 * Some links as examples I do add here with, too. (I do not touch into the origin article, alone to avoid from different styles and for respect.):
 * (From the german article) "1937 released piece of music from Forró na roça from Manuel Queirós and Xerém",
 * Forró na roça https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKk0S9OBLak
 * (The same, as backup link OK ?) Xerém - Tapuya e sua Tribo - FORRÓ NA ROÇA - choro-sertanejo de Dão Xerém e Manuel Queiroz - 1937 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4o4GsVB7pY
 * Forró na roça https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVCed1IW8CQ
 * --Visionhelp (talk) 04:51, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

pronunciation
The pronunciation was given as, which I'm 99% sure is wrong. I've always heard, with two open o's. Yes, this appears to violate the standard Portuguese pronunciation rules, but this is not a native word. Typical Tupi words in Brazilian are final-stressed, often with repeated vowels (acarajé, Aracaju, vatapá, abacaxi, perereca, etc.), and unstressed vowels that are the same as a following stressed vowel usually inherit the open quality. E.g. forrobodó. This is mentioned in Earl Thomas "A Grammar of Spoken Brazilian Portuguese" which is mostly based on Rio speech so it isn't just a Northeast characteristic. Benwing (talk) 23:41, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

The pronunciation is and it doesn't violate the Portuguese pronunciation rules. The problem is in the RR phoneme, because books don't document it accurately (ʁ χ x). Although it may be different in each region, no one notices the difference there. Crocodilo (talk) 06:00, 19 July 2017 (UTC)

Proposed merge with Forró dos Cumpadre
Forró dos Cumpadre is a sub-genre with limited coverage and would be better suited as a section in the Forró article. giso6150 (talk) 11:25, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

Forró dos Cumpadre is actually a song, it isn't a kind of music or forró. It is not popular in Brazil. Maybe it was popular during the 1970's. It should not be merged here. You should think if you keep it or delete it. Crocodilo (talk) 06:00, 19 July 2017 (UTC)

Meanings of word forró and his article
This article needs proofreading. The word forró is used to name different things:


 * Originally it is the name of a party of this with some typical genres and dances originary the northeast region of Brazil.
 * Location of this party.


 * Some dances this party.


 * One way to name the sets of the different musical genres of this party.


 * Also the name of one of the musical genres of this party created by Luiz Gonzaga in 1958.

The article is properly about the party and its characteristics. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tiao0 (talk • contribs) 14:48, 23 August 2018 (UTC)