Let's dance forró!

July 10, 2010 8:19 AM

Forró is popular dance music from northeastern Brazil. Forró em Vinil is a blog with out of catalog forró gems for download. But wait, is this legal?

YES! Under Brazil's new copyright reform proposal, if a work is no longer available on the market, it's fair use to copy it if you're not making a profit. Chapter IV, Article 46, paragraph XVII. So go ahead and enjoy some forró! (click on "para baixar este disco, clique aqui")

You can...

...learn how to dance it! (for more, search for "aprenda dançar forró")

... learn about our beloved Luiz Gonzaga, THE forró giant. See him play!

... even check out some NY based forró. David Byrne loves it!

posted by Tom-B (11 comments total)

Hurrah for forró!

I found out about it from this cd which I bought solely for the title 'Music for Maids and Taxi Drivers'. It is peppy stuff.
posted by winna at 9:12 AM on July 10, 2010

Under Brazil's new copyright reform proposal, if a work is no longer available on the market, it's fair use to copy it if you're not making a profit.

Is this just a proposal, or has the law been enacted?

Either way, thanks for the links, great music.
posted by Forktine at 9:12 AM on July 10, 2010

Can I just say that when Chrome translated this page for me, one of the album descriptions was

"And he ate dog chopped nuts not to take?"

And I'm having trouble parsing it.
posted by themadjuggler at 9:40 AM on July 10, 2010

I think I like it! Would anyone with taste or expertise care to assemble a few sets of links, or should we all go diving into the unknown?
posted by dylanjames at 11:50 AM on July 10, 2010

Isso mesmo cara!
posted by iamck at 2:12 PM on July 10, 2010

Not just legal, but superlegal! (That's Brazilian slang for "super cool"... though probably really outdated slang by now.) Looking forward to rounding out my collection!

One of my old favorites is Jackson do Pandeiro. He does forró and baião and a bunch of other stuff, all of it brilliant.

Also, Forró in the Dark are friends of ours (well, Mauro, their percussionist, is a dear old friend of my wife's, so we see the band whenever they're in town...) They fully rock the house every time. Definitely see them if you have the chance, and bring your bouncy shoes.
posted by otherthings_ at 7:20 PM on July 10, 2010

Thanks for the Forró in the Dark link, Tom-B! Will try to catch them next time they're playing in NY, they sound great!

(bom te ver no metafilter! ;-) )
posted by falameufilho at 7:24 PM on July 10, 2010

@themadjuggler: I assume you were trying to translate “E ele comeu picado de cachorro doido para não tirar?"

It's not an album title, just a caption somewhere in the blog. As far as I can tell, the literal meaning is:

"And he ate barbecued dog meat, crazy not to take it away?"

What the figurative meaning is, beats the heck out of me. Those Brazilians love their slang.
posted by otherthings_ at 7:27 PM on July 10, 2010

Actually, on preview, the word tirar must be a reference to Arlindo Moita taking off his hat (that's the title of the album: "Jackson, my hat is off to you!") So the blog author seems to be suggesting Moita didn't really want to take off his hat? I don't get it.
posted by otherthings_ at 7:32 PM on July 10, 2010

Danado de bom!

Here are some more: Jackson do Pandeiro, Jacinto Silva, Dominguinhos, Luiz Gonzaga.

Those are classic forró with a lot of coco in it. Here is some samba de coco.

There are all sorts of other variations of forró as well.

Roots forró de rabeca with a fiddle instead of an accordion: Mestre Ambrósio and Chão e Chinelo.

Glitzy ultrapopular forró estilizado by bands like Calcinha Preta.

Catchy forró-reggae hybrids for a student crowd called forró universitário: falamansa

And others like Os Pariceiros who are a bit uncategorizable, but great nonetheless.
posted by umbú at 9:22 PM on July 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

It's also worth mentioning that Gilberto Gil's latest record is forró and songs for the São João celebration, and he has another hit record that is straight up forró.

Also, experimentalists like Walter Franco, Caetano Veloso, Hermeto Pascoal and Tom Zé have messed with forró. Sivuca's another name to check out as well.
posted by umbú at 9:32 PM on July 10, 2010