Jair Alves - Cangote Cheroso from Canta O "Barão Do Baião" - RCA (1957)

In the 1950s, baião was not yet forró. Eventually, the instrumentation, arrangements, and genre would become more tightly defined. The 1950s may be the most experimental decade for baião. Artists added strings, harmony groups incorporated baião rhythms (this began in the 1940s, actually), Gilvan Chaves & Volta Sêca (and later Coroné Narcizinho) infused spoken word storytelling in song and some folks were downright formal by later rootsy genre standards. Jair Alves' Canta O Barão Do Baião may be the most successful melding of baião and classical orchestration. Perhaps more experimental contemporary forró artists will return to Canta O Barão Do Baião for inspiration. It truly is special and unusual. 

Jair Alves - Canta O "Barão Do Baião" - RCA (1957)

Luiz Vieira - Meus Canarin (baião) from Retalhos Do Nordeste - Copacabana (1958)

Like Luiz Wanderley, Vieira has a fantastic and interesting voice. Retalhos Do Nordeste, one of the great LPs during the second wave of forró, has been reissued on vinyl and much of Luiz Vieira's work has been anthologized on LPs and CDs. One of the reasons that I started collecting forró vinyl was because of the paltry amount of reissues on CD. I don't particularly like vinyl. it's fragile, noisy and most forró vinyl was abused or badly pressed. Collecting the genre is frustrating. Viera is one of the few artists during the 1985-2005 big reissue period who had a few remasters here and there, but his classic albums did not get reissued completely on CD, so yet again, I am stuck with the vinyl. 

Luiz Vieira - Retalhos Do Nordeste - Copacabana (1958)

Luiz Gonzaga - Forró do Zé Buchudo from Aquilo Bom - RCA (1972)

Thanks to his official website, Luiz Gonzaga's catalog was the first one that I explored when I started my forró adventures. Little did I know how vast the world of forró really was. Because I had a heavy Gonzaga phase, I don't return to his catalog as much as I should! Zé Buchudo is a track that I didn't play much back then and I've grown to love. It has a really neat descending backing vocal and a wonderful tuba bass line. Like Jackson do Pandeiro, some of Gonzaga's early 70s records rank amongst his best.

Luiz Gonzaga - Aquilo Bom - RCA (1972)