Jair Alves - Baião Rock (baião) - RCA (1957)

Back in the 1950s, Brazilians were aware of rock and had their own rock stars. The rhythms also seeped into baião, which was the common name for the genre before forró became ubiquitous. There are several records fused rock and baião, although these were mostly in a novelty capacity. Luiz Wanderley tried rock even dipped his toes into calypso, which was marketed in the US shortly after rock hit big. Baião Rock, by Jair Alves, is more big band than rock, but it is quite interesting and extremely rare. As far as I am aware, this was only issued on 78rpm and is one of Alves's most difficult tracks to find.

Jair Alves - Baião Rock (baião) - RCA (1957)

Jair Alves - Baião Rock (baião) - RCA (1957)

Rossini Pinto - Viver Sem Ninguém from compacto - CBS (1971)

I love hearing slick post-1960s orchestral forró and baião tracks. While string arrangements on baião tunes like this were common in the 1950s from artists like Ivon Curi and Stellinha Egg, the form was limited to mainly traditional instruments by the 1970s. The only styles to gain a little ground were carimbo, funk and disco. Alas, forró in the 70s was pretty much the same as forró today. I am not saying that it is necessarily negative, because many of my favorite recordings come from the early 1970s. However, t was rarely experimental. Gilberto Gil recorded some fairly radical versions of forró around this time. The closest cousin to Viver Sem Ninguém is Forró Em Caruaru by Djalma Pires recorded the same year. Both Pires and Pinto were outsiders in the genre. As far as I can tell, Pinto was marketed as a teen pop star in the 1960s. He never became a cangaceiro suited forró bandit, with the exception of this one unusual record.

Rossini PInto - Viver Sem Ninguém from compacto - CBS (1971)

Rossini PInto - Viver Sem Ninguém from compacto - CBS (1971)

Lili Melo - Barra Do Dia (côco) from Balance O Lirio - Cantagalo (1967 or 1968)

The album Balance O Lirio was produced by forró legend Pedro Sertanejo. Like Anastácia's records from this period, the album sounds a bit like independent girl groups records from the US in the early 1960s. Barra Do Diá shines through as a standout track. Lili Melo only appeared on a few releases that I know of in her short career. All of these were on Cantagalo, including this LP, Balance O Lirio. 

Lili Melo - Barra Do Dia (côco) from Balance O Lirio - Cantagalo (1967 or 1968)