Zito Borborema was a member of Jackson Do Pandeiro's band before becoming a solo star. He was so beloved by Jackson that his band was named after Borborema. As compliments go, this must be the ultimate and speaks volumes about Zito's talent and... perhaps... charm? Vocé Não Faz O Que Eu Faça (côco) is another great track from this 10" collection of 78rpms on RGE. Several collections of material from this period were subsequently released, but Vocé Não Faz O Que Eu Faça only appears on this 10".
Zito Borborema - Vocé Não Faz O Que Eu Faça (côco) from O Nordeste Canta - RGE (1957)
I have been a bit slow to post lately. Apologies! Lots of new content is on the way. Pau De Arara É A Vovozinha is a great one from Trio Nordestino from their 1964 LP of the same title. The original LP featured the group on the tarmac looking like they are ready to conquer the world. Like the other early to mid-60s Trio Nordestino LPs, the albums were reissued a number of times over the years. This is fortunate for Trio Nordestino and fans of great forró.
Azulão de Caruarú, like Zenilton and often Luiz Gonzaga, usually has at least several solid tracks on every album. O Baque Da Cancela is no exception. Essa Mulher Luxa Demais is a great swinger featuring Camarão on accordion and Azulão's trademark relaxed delivery.
Azulão (Caruarú) - O Baque Da Cancela - Esquema (1978)
There is a lot of humor in forró, but also a history of clowning in the genre. Perhaps the prince of this is Genival Lacerda, but there was a large group of cheeky northeasterners including Luiz Wanderley, Gordurinha, and Coronel Ludru who were certainly going for laughs at times. Even Jackson Do Pandeiro can be seen sporting a Lampião outfit and having a bit of fun on the silver screen. I don't generally think of Sebastião Do Rojão as a clown, but the sleeve of O Balanço Da Mulata suggests a man who is up to some tomfoolery. Regardless of marketing, the LP is full of excellent songs including the wonderful Entrei De Gaiato (baião) featured this week.
Sebastião Do Rojão - O Balanço Da Mulata - Chantecler (1964)
Past 1970, it is rare that to find mixed-gender forró groups. However, there were a few combos in the 1950s and 1960s, like Trio Marabá and Marinés e Süa Gente, that performed baioes (sometimes spelled baiãos) and forró. Trio Marabá harkened back to the group sound of the 1930s and 1940s. Trio Mossoró probably modeled themselves off of the more modern Marinés e Süa Gente, although Trio Mossoró featured male and female vocals and Marinés was the only singer in her group. This was highly unusual. Trio Mossoró records seem to be particularly desirable, thanks to the reputation of their De Norte a Sul LP.
Trio Mossoró - Terra de Santa Luzia - Cantagalo (1968)
Mané Baião E Seus Cangaceiros is a wonderful and rare 1960s forró LP. While there seem to be a tidal wave of forró LPs from the 1970s, the 1960s seem to have a tenth of what would appear in the following decade, perhaps due to the derailing of Brazil by the military takeover. Mané Baião began his career at the tail-end of the 78rpm era in the early 1960s, but managed to transition to compactos and vinyl LPs during the drought-like 1960s.
Mané Baião E Seus Cangaceiros - Continental (1966)
This Trio Nordestino, not to be confused with the Trio Nordestino from Alagoas, released a number of strong LPs in the early 1960s that have I foolishly overlooked. Os Grandes Sucessos collects songs from their 1963, 1965 and 1966 LPs. My favorite track from this compilation is Carta Ao Rio. The song is a rip-roaring côco with a killer chorus, reminiscent of some of the best 1960s Ary Lobo tracks.
Trio Nordestino - Os Grandes Sucessos Do - Magazine
Quem Falou Está Errado is a 1960s rarity on compacto by Ciço Do Pará. Ciço's catalog is consistently strong. The New York Audio Fidelity label released a handful of Brazilian records. I only know of two LPs that cross over into the forró genre: this compacto and the dazzling LP from Venâncio e Corumba.
Ribamar e Roberto, aka Dupla Os Vagalumes (translated directly as Double The Fireflies), only released this single compacto as a duo. It is wonderful and unusual, because it harkens back to a time when vocal baiãos were popular. Similar to Ouvindo by Trio Marayá, this is one of the last records of its kind.
Anastácia's early catalog features two records with nearly identical covers and nearly identical track listings, but there are variations between the 1965 Continental release, Anastácia No Tarrado, and the 1970 album, Uai... Uai. I can understand using the same cover, but varying the tracks is a bit maddening. This is fairly unusual for forró albums. The French label Sonodisc had a habit of releasing albums with similar covers and entirely different track listings.
Forrófiá, Conselho da Umbigada, and Tá Nascendo Fio are only available in the original 1965 LP fully titled Anastácia No Torrado - Anastácia Com Conjunto É Côro.
O Canoeiro, Assucena, and São João Está Chegando are exclusively available on the 1970 Disco Lar LP, Uai... Uai.
Forró No Salão is a brisk track featuring Anastácia's distinctive vocal. Mercifully, it appears on both version of this LP.
Anastácia - Anastácia No Tarrado - Continental (1965)
Macapá (baião) from 1950 by Luiz Gonzaga sounds electric and alive. It is punchy and direct, which must have sounded so refreshing at the time. This is another example of Luiz Gonzaga sounding like the future. Macapá is pure joy.
Luiz Gonzaga - Macapá (baião) from RCA Victor 78rpm (1950)
Today, we have a sunny forró instrumental from the mighty Abdias. Abdias may have the most extensive catalog of any accordion player in the history of forró. Forró De Chico Gato was recorded at the tail end of his career at Columbia Records before he became a producer and one of the main members of the house band at CBS. The instrumentation will be familiar to folks who love CBS forró from the mid-1960s through the 1970s: The bass line is played by violão de sete cordas. There is a mellow, dark and boxy-sounding cavaquinho (I mean that in the best sense) and a zabumba. You can also hear a chattery wood block throughout. Getting all of these rhythm instruments to sound balanced and pleasant is not always easy, but the musicianship and recording quality is often stellar on Abdias recordings. He truly was one of the genuses of the genre.
Abdias - Forró De Chico Gato instrumental from Columbia 78rpm & Festa com 8 Baixos (1962)
Renato Moreno's recorded output was minimal, with only a single compacto, featured here, and an LP. Both were released in the 1960s. Renato Moreno is credited as a songwriter on releases by Anastácia and Dió de Araújo, although it is unclear if this is the same artist. While the LP appears fairly frequently, O Trovador Do Baião is far scarcer.
Renato Moreno - Baião do Enxurrada (baião) - O Trovador Do Baião - from California compacto
Pápa Goiaba (baião), by Luiz Wanderley, is one of his numerous 78rpm singles and appeared on several LP reissues, including the Rosicler compilation E Seus Grandes Sucessos (1960) and O Forró Do Wanderley in 1961. This transfer was taken from the original 78rpm.
Luiz Wanderley - Pápa Goiaba (baião) from Chantecler 78rpm (1961)
Saudade do Ceará by Trio Irapuã is exceptional for a number of reasons. One, it is a baião group vocal pop song. Although there were groups who worked in this style, like Quatro Ases E Um Coringa and sometimes Trio Irakitan, this was atypical. Most vocal groups recorded sambas. Two, this was released on compacto. Vocal groups were a dying breed, and with few exceptions, most did not survive into the vinyl era. I know virtually nothing about Trio Irapuã, but this seems to be the sole release from this group. There seems to be one later release on Mocambo from a much older version of the group.
Trio Irapuã - Saudade do Ceará from compacto - Seresta (1950s)
Here is another rare offering from the Brazilian 1960s (primarily) indie label, Maraca. The first side is a marcha, which is essentially carnival samba, but the b-side is a very appealing baião.
Vaudete E Seus Cadetes Do Ritmo - Terra Do Sol (baião) - Maraca compacto (1968)
Fulô Do Verão (côco) is the b-side to Zé Do Baião's 1959 A Laranjeira single. Zé Do Baião recorded a handful of great singles in the 1950s and early 1960s before transitioning into the Brazilian vinyl age. I do not believe that any of these songs made it onto the scant reissues of 78rpm singles that came later, so finding and preserving original copies is essential.
Zé Do Baião - Fulô Do Verão (côco) from Continental 78rpm (1959)
This week, I am pleased to feature the absurdly rare Barbosa Da Silva forró compacto from 1962. Both tunes on the compacto are strong, but Vai Lavar O Sirí is the standout for me. Outside of some writing credits for Jackson Do Pandeiro, I have very little information about Barbosa Da Silva and little evidence of his recording career beyond this single.
OK, my blog is called forró LP blah blah blah and this is a samba. True... but, Dorival Caymmi's early work shares a lot in common with many forró artists, including Jackson Do Pandeiro, who incorporated instruments like the violão de sete cordas into his work. The 7 string guitar / bass was used more often in samba. I love Dorival Caymmi's earliest work and his upbeat 78rpm singles. His later work is a bit maddening, because he tended to favor slow cançãoes with his heavy baritone singing.
Dorival Caymmi - Columbia 78rpm (1941) & LP (1975)
Jackson Do Pandeiro's first compacto was a vinyl release of two 78rpm discs: Pacífico Pacato bw Tum-Tum-Tum and Nortista Quatrocentão bw Boa Noite. The song featured here is Boa Noite, which was later covered by Djalma Dias as Dono De Casa, Boa Noite and featured on this blog in 2013. This compacto is exceptionally scarce, and spun at 45rpm vs 33 1/3, which became the compacto standard in Brazil.
It has been a busy month, so I am a bit slow to upload new content at the moment. This is another classic from Sacy's Salve-Se Quem Puder Tem Sacy No Pau-De-Arara, which is quite a mouthful to say. By the time this LP compilation of 78rpm singles was released, most of Sacy's work was behind him. Sacy has become one of those mythical figures from (primarily) the 1950s who disappeared by the mid-1960s.
Sacy - Salve-Se Quem Puder Tem Sacy No Pau-De-Arara - Odeon (1960)
Jota Fonseca's legacy is mixed. He was lucky that his early 60s productions were fabulous tunes that sounded stellar. Jota was unlucky that most of his work was only released on 78rpm, meaning that his presence on vinyl, a much more long-lived format, is minimal. That said, he ended up on at least one compacto and LP compilation. Also, a fair number of Jota Fonseca's 78s survived, meaning that he is better off than Carlos Galindo, who has all but vanished. Meu Norte Venceu, written by Sebastião Do Rojão, is a rolicking rojão from a great double-sided 78rpm single.
Jota Fonseca - Meu Norte Venceu (rojão) from RGE 78rpm (1961)
Transamazonica, by Gibão (aka Téo Azevedo), is a remarkable-sounding record and a serious curiosity. It has many of the sonic hallmarks of a Tropicalia record, was published on the primarily-forró label Copacabana but, lyrically, is a celebration of the government Transamazonica project rather than a leftist condemnation. The Trans-Amazonian highway was to connect the northeastern Brazilian states through the Amazon and to other South American countries like Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. The highway construction continues today, 48 years later, with only portions of the road being paved. This is due to a series of financial crises in Brazil and the engineering challenges associated with traversing the muddy amazon.
Gibão - Transamazonica from compacto - Copacabana (1971)
Revivendo has been reissuing early Brazilian music since the 1980s. Much of the music from the was only released on 78rpm singles. Some of the songs from this CD compilation, Samba Da Minha Terra, have appeared on scattered LP and CD reissues, but a fair portion appears here for the first and only time.
Grupo "X" never appeared on vinyl or CD compilations, possibly because they were only together for a short time. However, their output was prolific. According to Dicioáario MPB, Grupo "X" released a 26 78rpm singles in three years, 1936, 1937 and 1938, before splitting up. The liner notes indicate that there was a second phase of Grupo "X," but discographies do not list additional recordings. The group seemed to be primarily higher education students studying to be accountants, dentists and veterinarians in São Paulo. Despite music for most members seemingly being secondary to other careers, Grupo "X" held their own against the big groups: Quatro Ases e Um Coringa, Bando Da Lua (who became Carmen Miranda's backing group) and Anjos Do Inferno, also appearing on the CD compilation Samba Da Minha Terra from 1992.
Lembrando A Bahia is a rolicking samba from 1937. Bravo to Revivendo for assembling this amazing music that would otherwise be lost to the world.
Grupo "X" - Lembrando A Bahia (samba) - Columbia 78rpm (1937) from Samba Da Minha Terra - Revivendo (1992)
I have been running Forró LP Gringo for nearly 8 years, and this was one of the first releases that I featured in 2012. I became interested in forró in the mid-2000's and stumbled on this through an eBay search a few years later. Almost no one sounded like Ary Lobo and few could match the quality of his records in the 1950s. Although Forró De Piancó begins in a typical Luiz Gonzaga style, as soon as the verse kicks in, the future has arrived.
