Trio Nordestino – Dom Francisco, Dom Tomé - Corte O Bolo – Copacabana/Beverly 1980

Trio Nordestino – Dom Francisco, Dom Tomé - Corte O Bolo – Copacabana/Beverly 1980

Click on the video above to play the song.
iOS? click here: http://youtu.be/Xel9S_wsGoI

When I’ve explained my interest in collecting forró to hip Brazilian record collectors and dealers, I’ve gotten a variety of reactions.  From half, it’s mostly amusement, but occasionally people incredulously ask “Why?”  The other half, which often includes DJs and musicians, get a twinkle in their eye and tap their noses knowingly.

I can understand why the Brazilian Tropicalistas and performers like Chico Buarque are respectable and forró may seem clownish. Just look at the cover of Trio Nordestino’s LP Corte O Bolo!!! It looks like a kids birthday party.*  The band is draped in dreadful 70s polyester shirts, undersized Annie Oakley hats and massive scarves.  I have to admit, most forró artwork is totally atrocious, hilarious, grotesque, painfully unappealing and completely unfashionable.  It’s humbling when needle hits vinyl and the music is brilliantly rhythmic, cheeky, colorful, wildly melodic, complex and intoxicating.  Don’t judge a book by it’s cover and don’t judge an LP by it’s jacket.
 

Dom Francisco, Dom Tomé (by Assissão – Lindolfo Barbosa) is a light, juicy tune with a funky groove, gutsy singing and hypno-accordion.  The song was released in 1980 close to the end of the 3rd wave of forró, right before drum machines and 80s production destroyed the genre for a long while.  Interestingly, 70s disco accents sounded great with forró (electric bass and drum kits). Dom Francisco, Dom Tomé is a classic example of disco/funk-forró. Perhaps it was because disco and forró had the same function.  Both musics were designed to be funky and fill the dance floor.

*The party on the cover of Corte O Bolo was for Trio Nordestino’s 20th anniversary.  The vinyl LP in the video is a reissue on Beverly from 1991. The original LP came out on Copacabana in 1980.

Trio Nordestino (image from Som13)