Zito Borborema - Vocé Não Faz O Que Eu Faça (côco) from O Nordeste Canta - RGE (1957)

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)

João Da Baiana - Amala De Xango from Batuques E Pontos De Macumba - Odeon (1957)

You can find threads of Brazilian rhythms in every form of music. Samba and forró instrumentally, rhythmically and melodically intermingle. Macumba, a religion primarily practiced in South America with African roots, often uses the rhythms of batucada and batuque. Some call Macumba voodoo, black magic or witchcraft, although these labels can be pejorative. There is plenty of information available about the religion online. There are a number of stars of batucada that emerged in the 1940s and 1950s, primarily Sussú, J.B. De Carvalho and João Da Baiana. Jackson Do Pandeiro and mainstream Brazilian stars like Bando Da Lua also recorded songs using the rhythms of batucada. Like samba and forró, the music is distinctive and mesmerizing. 

João Da Baiana - Batuques E Pontos De Macumba - Odeon (1957)

Walter Damasceno - Maria Do Amparo (baião) from Columbia 78rpm (1950s)

Walter Damasceno and Ary Lobo represented an interesting era in Northeastern Brazilian music. Compared to some of the softer baião singers who recorded middle-of-the-road music, Damasceno and Lobo sounded modern and vital. The United States had a similar period in the 1950s. 50s pop had a marshmallow quality until what we now call rhythm and blues and upbeat country and western helped shape a new vitality for the music. While Ary Lobo's career continued until his death in 1980, Damasceno disappeared in the early 1960s.

Both Damasceno and Lobo lived through a time when the 78rpm was fading and vinyl was on the rise. Damasceno's 78s seem to be rarer than Lobos from this period, depending on the label. Odeon 78s are nearly impossible to find, but most appeared on his lone Odeon LP. He has a short stack of 78s on Columbia and a rare one on CBS. 

Damasceno and Lobo also recorded songs listed as rojão (the a side of this 78), but this does not seem to be a distinct rhythmic form. Songs weren't usually listed this way after the early 1960s. Rojão may simply be slang for upbeat baião or forró tunes.

The tuba sounds amazing. 

Walter Damasceno - Maria Do Amparo (baião) from Columbia 78rpm (1950s)

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)

Zito Borborema - Cabra Valentão (rojão) from O Nordeste Canta - RGE (1957)

Cabra Valentão is a beautifully produced track by Zito Borborema. O Nordeste Canta is one of the great albums of the short lived 10" album period from the mid to late 1950s. Zito Borborema, Ary Lobo, Jackson do Pandeiro, Jair Alves, Luiz Gonzaga, Zé Gonzaga, Volta Seca, Marinês, Gilvan Chaves and João Mello all have classic 10" (10 Polegadas in Portuguese) albums from this period. Usually, 10" albums were collections of 78 rpm singles. O Nordeste Canta contains exceedingly rare 78s, so it is fortunate that vinyl came along when it did to document these amazing songs. 

Thank you Samuel for the historical information!

Zito Borborema - Cabra Valentão (rojão) from O Nordeste Canta - RGE (1957)

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)

Volta Sêca - Sabino E Lampeão (Xaxado) & A Laranjeira (Baião) from Cantigas De Lampeão - Todamerica (1957)

This week, I feature an awesome vintage 10" LP from Volta Sêca on the rare Todamerica label. Mysterious and earthy, this LP connects to deep folklore, like the music of Gilvan Chaves, João do Vale and Luiz Gonzaga, who were all recording great music in the mid-1950s. Luiz Gonzaga, the founder of the genre, based much of his sound and image on the legendary past. While forró and baião would go on celebrating and sentimentalizing a lost era, something about the magic of records made in the 1950s is most distinctive. Part of the reason may be that the music reached a level of fidelity that allowed the music sound modern. At any rate, Cantigas De Lampeåo (Lampião) is a classic of the genre.

Volta Sêca - Sabino E Lampeão (Xaxado) from Cantigas De Lampeão - Todamerica (1957) 

Volta Sêca - A Laranjeira (Baião) from Cantigas De Lampeão - Todamerica (1957) 

Volta Sêca - Cantigas De Lampeão - Todamerica (1957)

Trio Irakitan - Andorinha Preta (Toada) from Odeon 78 rpm (1956) Carnival Week In Rio (1957)

This is my second of two posts from Trio Irakitan. Andorinha Preta (Black Swallow) may be the most hypnotic record the Trio ever recorded. Andorinha Preta is listed as a Toada record, which is a style occasionally recorded by forró artists. The most famous version of Andorinha Preta was recorded in English with a somewhat generic title, Brazilian Love Song, by Nat King Cole backed by Trio Irakitan in 1959. Although Cole's recording is fine, I find the full Portuguese versions to be superior. There are two versions of Andorinha Preta by Trio Irakitan that predate Cole's. The first recording, featured here, was a 78rpm recording by the group from 1956. A second version was recorded for a film called Rio Fantasia with Eliana Macedo on lead vocals with the Trio backing her. Interestingly, the 1956 78rpm and Rio Fantasia versions do not seem to appear on any Trio Irakitan reissues, which are numerous. Thankfully, folks have uploaded the 1956 versions on YouTube. 

My recording comes from a super clean copy of a US LP called Carnival Week In Rio from 1957. The LP jacket boldly claims "Portable equipment was used to capture the true sounds of celebration, and from more than 30 hours of tape-recorded action the unique Capitol record of "Carnival Week in Rio" was finally - after judicious editing - accomplished."  What they should have said is "Capitol Records took existing songs recorded in professional studios by the Brazilian artists and added some crowd noise." I don't know why they would have needed 30 hours of noise. Perhaps a lucky Capitol exec got a free trip to Rio. Interestingly, the crowd noise is kind of nice. Since the original 78rpm is rare, this may be the most hifi version of the original version of Andorinha Preta available. 

Trio Irakitan - Andorinha Preta (Toada) from Odeon 78 rpm (1955) Carnival Week In Rio (1957)

Trio Irakitan - Andorinha Preta (Toada) from Odeon 78 rpm (1956) Carnival Week In Rio (1957)

Zé Fernandes - Sou Que Nem Mineiro & Forró Do Zé Vicente from Dança Na Roça é Bom - Sinter (1957)

This is the second classic Zé Fernandes vinyl appearance on my blog. His later LP, Forró do Mané Vito was featured here. His only two full length releases were this 10" (below) and an LP. Fernandes also released a handful of rare 78rpm singles. Although 10" records from the 1950s were typically collections of these singles, songs often slipped between the cracks and were not compiled. Some 10" records also contained exclusive material. This is true for virtually all artists with releases during this transitional period. Sou Que Nem Mineiro & Forró Do Zé Vicente are excellent, high energy numbers. Forró Do Zé Vicente was previously released as a 78rpm, but Sou Que Nem Mineiro may be exclusive to the 10". I have not found evidence that the latter was a 78rpm. The Zé Fernandes sound foreshadowed the future of forró instead of exclusively falling back on the early sound of Luiz Gonzaga.

Zé Fernandes - Sou Que Nem Mineiro from Dança Na Roça é Bom - Sinter (1957)

Zé Fernandes - Forró Do Zé Vicente from Dança Na Roça é Bom - Sinter (1957)

Zé Fernandes - Dança Na Roça é Bom - Sinter (1957)

Marinês - Peba Na Pimenta - from Rico Ri À Toa (film) - unreleased version* - 1957

Click on the video above to play the song.

Marinês - Peba Na Pimenta - from Rico Ri À Toa (film) - unreleased version* - 1957

This is a bonus post... call it forró video gringo.  Peba Na Pimenta was a huge hit for Marinês (pronounced Mad-dee-naise, for you gringos) back in 1957.  This version, recorded for a film called Rico Ri À Toa, never appeared on LP as far as I’m aware. The hit version was much slower. It’s a shame, because I prefer this version by a hundred cows and two deserts.  It was co-written by the amazing João do Vale, who will appear as a future post.  The film shows the classic forró group instrumentation established by Luiz Gonzaga:  zabumba (bass drum with 2 heads played with a bacalhau and soft mallet), accordion, triangle and traditional outfits with cangaceiros hats.  Of course, recordings like this one were frequently beefed up with guitar or cavaquinho.

Marinês is a legend.  She was the first big female star in forró and according to many accounts, was the first woman to form a forró group.  Her career started in 1949, with her husband Abdias (a legend in his own right) and their group Casal da Alegria (Fun Couple).  She was fortunate enough to be the protégée Mr Big Baião Britches himself, Luiz Gonzaga.  Marinês released over 30 albums, many of which were beautifully recorded and released on RCA and CBS.  She had the great fortune of recording for great labels with super studios.  Most forró stars were not so lucky. Although later her music crossed over with MPB, she always had more than a sprinkle of nordeste.

* I swiped this video from YouTube.  I should credit the blog Retalhos Históricos de Campina Grande, who originally posted the video.  I fixed the audio, which was mono in one channel and had a buzzing noise in the other, which I removed.