Forro-Brazilian take on Euro Music - NPR

Subject: Waila (chicken scratch) music
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 21 Oct 10 - 10:21 PM

I finally got to take a look at this. The development of "waila" or "chicken scratch" music among the Tohono O'Odham people of southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico is similar -- a local adaptation of the 19th century European styles, in this case also filtered through the Mexican/norteño music.

Here, it comes combined with a low-amplitude dance style made for doing through a long, hot, desert night.

Waila Music

annual Waila Festival in Tucson, started to honor the tradition and share it with the urban community in Tucson

PBS TV program (pt. 1), part 2, part 3 (have to watch this one, myself)

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Forro-Brazilian take on Euro Music - NPR
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 21 Oct 10 - 10:55 AM

Thanks, Betsy. That is most interesting.

Subject: RE: Forro-Brazilian take on Euro Music - NPR
From: GUEST,Betsy
Date: 20 Oct 10 - 04:05 PM

I wrote about this Subject on a different thread manymooms ago.
I know not the Texas two step and can't remember how the Mazurka is danced but when I was there I did attempt to dance the pronounced
" Fohho ".
The dance is like a very quick (requiring lots of energy) and is akin to a very quick waltz and cosequently not affording much oxygen for small talk. Pardon me for cheapening the matter but is very much like watching Freddy Flintstone and his wife dancing quickly.
Certainly the dance (I can't speak for the music genre ) only dates back to the end of the world war. Now, which one, I'm not entirely certain, but I feel it was WWII, anyway ,by way of a celebration the Americans who had military and merchant ships docked in Rio,orgnised and invited the Rio population and erected posters which highlighted "DANCE FOR ALL".
FOR ALL is/was "Corrupted" by the Cariocas pronounciation, and the word went round "Forro".
Given that the whole thing was started by the US marines gives weight to it being a Texas 2-step , but maybe, in conjunction with the well known song, perhaps it was a Texas 3 steps (To Heaven) as I don't suppose the American Fleet was blessed with dancing instructors.
It must have been the most marvellous place to be , when all of this first came to pass.
As with all things Brazilian - they make a very sensuous affair of the dance , and experts are very much admired.
Dear me ,what memories !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! especially as Winter draws on as I write in the UK.

Subject: RE: Forro-Brazilian take on Euro Music - NPR
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 Oct 10 - 12:13 PM

LOL, I'll bet that would bring them flockin'!

It is sad, leeneia, but so common these days. Thanks for the refresh.

Subject: RE: Forro-Brazilian take on Euro Music - NPR
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 20 Oct 10 - 12:02 PM

Sad, innit, the lack of interest in actual music?

What you oughta do, kat, is start a thread called "Is forro genuine folk music?"

But no. There would be many debaters, but how many would actually click on the link and listen to the music? Very few, I fear.

Subject: RE: Forro-Brazilian take on Euro Music - NPR
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 19 Oct 10 - 11:55 PM

Thanks for posting, kat. I listened to the video. How do they keep together?

It is most interesting, both rhythmically and melodically. The tonality reminds me of 'Boy from Ipanama' because it seems to float lightly in space.

Subject: Forro-Brazilian take on Euro Music - NPR
From: katlaughing
Date: 19 Oct 10 - 11:03 AM

There was a neat segment on NPR's Morning Edition on a folk music known as Forro in Brazil. Pretty neat, esp. the last piece played on fiddle. You may read about it and listen by Clicking HERE. Here's the blurb, plus there is a video of the band at the bottom of the link page:

By Annie Murphy

October 19, 2010

Brazil has a reputation for its music. Just mentioning the country's name can evoke images of samba bands and glittering dancers at Carnaval, or the swaying beat of "The Girl From Ipanema." But Brazil is home to plenty of other styles and genres, including forro, a musical amalgam that's been compared to zydeco, the Texas Two-Step and even mazurka.

Claudio Rabeca, of the band Quarteto Olinda, says fans love forro because it makes them get up and move.

"Dancing calls out to people," Rabeca says. "It brings people together."

Forro can be hard to precisely define, though. Thought to have originated sometime around the turn of the century, it involves instruments and techniques brought from Europe centuries ago, and a lot of local innovation. Carlos Sandroni, an ethnomusicologist at the University of Pernambuco, explains that the region has a long history as a mixing bowl of musical styles; forro is likely a product of that.

"You had polka, waltz, mazurka," Sandroni says. "Mazurkas came in the 19th century as rock, and hip-hop came in the 20th century."

Deeply rooted in dance aesthetics, forro became a genre thanks largely to peasant turned popular musician Luiz Gonzaga. With his rural sensibility, musical skill and poetic lyrics, Gonzaga helped make forro popular, particularly among people from the countryside. His songs addressed everything from love to drought.

Today, forro is still popular in the city of Olinda. Where the genre will be in another century, though, is anyone's guess.