Forro Do Brasil

Artist: collection
Album: Forro do Brasil
Label: Arc Music

Brazilian nortenos! According to the liner notes, Forro is a dance
music from northeast Brazil. The music is relatively simple, with
accordion, bass, triangle, sometimes guitar and drums. All the lyrics
are in Portuguese. I really like banda, nortenos, and the like, so I
enjoyed this CD a lot. The Portuguese lyrics gives the album an
alternate universe feel. As it happened, I liked the contributions
from two groups: Ze Cupido and Corone Pereira. I don't speak
Portuguese, but no FCCs in English. Recommend tracks 1, 7, 13, 19.

Please

1) 112 bpm. Hybrid french/norteno feel. More mellow than the mexican
accordion driven music that one hears on the radio. Cool high bass
guitar counterpoint., cowbells. Recommended

2) 116 bpm. Accordion, light perucussion, male vocals. bass line
more reminisent of nortenos than previous track.

3) 80 bpm. Laid back, accordion bass prominent, male sing-song lyrics.

4) 90 bpm. Slightly more complicated percussion, lower pitched, swung
male vocals, closer to Cuban style. More prominent guitar than
previous tracks.

5) 126 bpm. Instrumental, triangle, bass, accordion. Bouncy bass
line, laid-back accordion.

6) 96 bpm. Laid back, with usual accordion, triangle, bass lineup.
Male vocals.

7) 112 bpm. Electric guitar, nice female vocals, great groove.
Drums, claves added to percussion mix. Recommended.

8) 108 bpm. synth trumpets, alternating male/female vocals. Much
closer to Mexican pop.

9) 90 bpm. Instrumental. Prominent accordion, bass, triangle.
European influence is noticeable. Mellow.

10) 96 bpm. Male vocals, bouncy bass, simple but pleasing melody.
Clapped bridge.

11) 120 bpm. More uptempo, w/ cumbia influence. Again, simple but
fun bass line. Male vocals, female chorus. Weird attention grabbing
bridge close to end of song.

12) 90 bpm. Instrumental. Twangy bass line, accordion melody.

13) 114 bpm. Cumbia-influenced, with twangy electric guitar, female
vocals and chorus. Fun stuff. Guitar fuzzes out at the end of song.
(!) Recommended.

14) 114 bpm. Male vocals. Closer to tejano music. Synth bells half
way through track. Seems pretty tame after (13).

15) 132 bpm. Instrumental. Accordion arpeggio intro, then settles
into a goofy 2-step, polka beat.

16) 96 bpm. More complex rhythm than previous tracks. Hint of samba.
Funky, slightly out of tune acoustic bass. Muddy mix gives an earthy
feel to track.

17) 144 bpm. Fast cumbia feel, female lyrics belted out. In middle
of song, smoother male vocals give different feel to song, then band
chimes in on chorus. Double accordion action. Cool.

18) 90 bpm. Laid back cumbia, with beat and bass line that I've heard
on the radio before.

19) 112 bpm. Instrumental. Bird sounds, twangy, high bass or low
guitar, accordion melody. More complex rhythms with cow bell, guiro,
drums. Recommended

20) 96 bpm. Male vocals, synth strings. Cumbia bass line. Nice
accordion backing to vocals.

Alex D.