If you’ve thought of a community centre recently or your local church or
religious buildings and why they are left empty so much of the time perhaps
you’ve even been considering how to make better use of those locales. Well,
there can be little better than Forró (Portuguese pronunciation: [foˈʁɔ]). It is a kind of Brazilian dance, originating in the
northeast, as well as a word used to denote the different genres of music which
accompany the dances. Both are much in evidence during the annual Festas Juninas (June Parties), a part of Brazilian traditional culture which
celebrates some Catholic saints. The most celebrated day
of these endless parties is known as São João, although many of Junes
saints are celebrated in a spectrum of manners.
There are several theories on the origin of the name.
"Forró" in the same written way (with the accented o) in the
Hungarian language means "burning hot". In the 1940s, there were
thousands of Hungarian emigrants arriving in South America. This is thought to
have led to the naming of this dance.
Another accepted theory puts forró as a derivative
of forrobodó, meaning "great party" or
"commotion". This is the view held by Brazilian folklorist Câmara Cascudo, who studied
the Brazilian northeast most of his
life. Forrobodó is believed to come from the word forbodó (itself
a corruption of fauxbourdon), which was used in the Portuguese court to define a dull party.
Another theory often heard popularly in Brazil is that the word forró is
a derivative of the English expression "for
all" and that it originated in the early 1900s. English, Scottish and
Welsh engineers on the Great Western
Railway of Brazil near Recife would throw balls on
weekends and classify them as either only for railroad personnel or for the
general populace ("for all"). This belief was somewhat reinforced by
a similar practice by USAF personnel
stationed at the Natal Air
Force Base during World War II, but that has
been refuted because before the USAF went to Natal, the name "Forró"
was already in use.
Forró is the most popular musical and dance genre in Brazil's northeast.
Different genres of music can be used to dance forró and some of us have even
given demonstrations of this dance without any musicians or recordings.
Traditionally, forró as a musical genre, includes only three instrumentalists
who play accordions, zabumbas and metal triangles. It is most usual for the accordion player to sing
with speedy, entertaining and often humorous lyrics. The dance also becomes
slightly different if you consider Brazilian regional variations. As part of
the massive popular culture forró dances are in constant flux. The dance known
as forró collegial is the most common style amongst the
middle-class students of colleges and universities in the southeast, having
influences from other dances including salsa and samba. The traditional music
used to dance forró was brought to the southeast from the northeast by Luiz Gonzaga, who
transformed the baião (a word originated from baiano and
assigned to warm-up for artists to search for inspiration before playing) into
a more sophisticated rhythm with more musicianship, including keyboards and
electric guitarists; lead\rhythm and bassists. In later years, forró achieved
popularity throughout Brazil, in the form of a slower genre also referred to
as xote that has been influenced by pop-rock music to become more
acceptable for Brazilian youths of the southeastern, southern, northern,
western and central regions.
Forró lyrics are usually about love and romance, passion, jealousy, or
reminiscing about an ex-lover. They often are about northeastern themes and the
longing or homesickness (saudade) that was often experienced during migrations in search of work. An
example of this are the lyrics of a folkloric, anonymous song, very popular in
the northeast and made famous across the country by Luiz Gonzaga, "Asa Branca". The literal
translation is ‘White Wing’ and there is even a recent American version played
by Forro in the Dark, who featured David Byrne, in which the singer says
he will return home when the rains fall again on the dry, barren land of the northeastern
sertão. The residents will know he is coming when they see a certain white winged
bird of the region that only arrives when it rains.
Luiz Gonzaga and Jackson do
Pandeiro are two of the most traditional forró
composers. Integral forró musicians include Elba Ramalho, Aviões do Forro, Garota
Safada, Forró Sacode, Geraldo Azevedo, Trio Nordestino, Dominguinhos, Falamansa,
Trio Virgulino, Sivuca, Pertúcio Amorim, Rastapé, Geraldinho Lins, João do
Vale, Flávio José, Trio Forrozão, Santana, Jorge de Altinho, Nando Cordel,
Aldemário Coelho, Genival Lacerda and Renato Leite.
There are
three rhythms of forró, xote (a slower-paced rhythm), baião (the original
forró) and arrasta-pé (the fastest of the three), and amongst these many styles
of dancing, which vary from region to region, and may be known by different
names according to the location. Forró is danced in pairs, usually very close
together, with the man's left hand holding the woman's right hand as in a traditional
waltz, his right arm around her back and her left
arm around his neck. However, observing and participating forró, you’ll find
that’s about the only similarity as the Hungarian theory suggests, it is
usually a fiery dance! Other styles may require staying partially away, or at a
considerable distance, only holding their hands up the shoulders. Influences
from salsa and
some Caribbean dances have given greater mobility to forró, with the woman, and
occasionally the man, being spun in various ways, although it's not mandatory
to gyrate at all, and more complex movements may prove impossible to be
executed in the usually crowded dancing area of ‘baile de forró’.
Here’s a contemporary list of the most popular styles of forró in
Brazil;
Closer pairings, xote;
§
xote: a basic style, danced close together in a left-left-right-right
movement, and has no spinning or variations
§
universitário: the most popular style outside the northeast, much like the xote, but
with the partners moving forward and backward, much like traditional Bolero. It contains many
variations of movements
§
miudinho: the man dances with his left side slightly tilted, his left hand on
the woman's waist and both her hands around his neck. Danced in the same place
(mobility can be gained through spinning), has a lot of hip movements
§
puladinho/manquinho: is danced with the man's right leg still and his left leg marking the
beats on the ground, while the woman with her left leg still and her right leg
moving (the partners can exchange the leg positions, although it's not common)
§
cavalguinho: much like the puladinho, but with man and woman marking both their
legs on the ground in alternate tempos, as if riding a horse.
Xote originally has its roots in the schottische dance.
Baião
§
baião or pé-de-serra: basically a style of xote, but with the partners tilting to the sides
and moving their legs less to follow the faster rhythm
§
cacau: comes from Paraíba, in which the partners dance slightly away from
each other with very fast leg movements
§
amassa-cacau: a variation of cacau from Ceará, it's danced less close and demands a
lot of hip movements, with the legs mimicking a person squeezing cacao
§
valsado: danced close together, consists of moving along the sides, encircling a
leg in turn behind a dance partner
§
valsadão: same as valsado, but danced slightly away from each other. It is,
together with universitário, the richest style in terms of movements and
variations
§
forrófieira: a newer style, mixes the traditional forró with steps and influence from Samba de Gafieira, and it has
become quite popular in Rio de Janeiro and some parts of northeast.
Fast forró or Arrasta-pé:
§
arrasta-pé can
only be danced in its own style, much like a very fast xote, but alternately
marking the beats on the ground with both legs and therefore feet merely
sliding speedily along smooth dancefloors or dry sandy earth soils.
Forro dancing styles are informally often grouped into two main
"families", simply for practical reasons: The older Nordestino (northeastern)
type of Forro and the Universitário (university) Forro that
developed more recently in the south.
Nordestino forro is
danced with the couple much closer together, with their legs often inter-twined
and a characteristic sideways shuffle movement. Because of the intimacy, there
are not as many step variations in this style.
Universitário forro,
with its origins in the big southeastern cities of Brazil, is the more popular
style outside of the north-east. Its basic step is forward-backwards - slightly
similar to traditional Bolero or Salsa. With more space between
the pair, many more moves, steps and turns are possible than in Nordestino
styles. The more common steps include;
§
Dobradiça; the
couple opens to each side like a hinged door
§
Caminhada: simple
step of the couple to the front and to the back
§
Comemoração: balancing
steps, with the man's leg between the woman's and vice versa
§
Giros: a
variety of turns or spins, both simple and ones involving both dancers
§
Oito: a
movement of both dancers around each other, side by side.
Universitário forro
supposedly evolved from (and is still very similar to) the pé-de-serra/baião styles,
while Nordestino is used to refer to the styles more like the
original xote.
These links that are more informative of recordings and discs available
in this emerging market and live events and touring groups may be useful in
your quest to discover better the music and dance genre, widely known as forró.
The best way of finding your space in the forró world is to go to a venue or
arena and just try dancing forró. Despite all of this information if you can
skank to reggae rhythms then it is a fourfold speed step up to dance FORRÓ. And
after a few minutes you and your partner may begin experimenting a few more
daring moves from your own humble origins. However, living in Brazilian cities,
you may then be able to take dance classes and gradually progress with guided practise
but being really honest it is best to find a patient partner and just enjoy
dancing this beautiful South American style naturally anytime.
