Jacinto Silva - Meu Xodó from Agora Tu Pega E Vira - CBS (1971)

If I could make a single LP compilation featuring my favorite forró songs, Meu Xodó would absolutely be included. It is one of the triumphs of Jacinto Silva's recorded work and a brilliant production from the best forró label of the early 1970s, CBS.

Jacinto Silva - Meu Xodó from Agora Tu Pega E Vira - CBS (1971)

Gibão - Transamazonica from compacto - Copacabana (1971)

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)

Dora Lopes - Estourou Do Norte from compacto EP - Continental (1971)

Estourou Do Norte, recorded by Dora Lopes in 1971, is a killer. There were several compactos of this song released, including a standard double sider in a stock sleeve and the EP featured here with a nifty picture sleeve. The number of forró records seemed to explode in the 1970s, but the production and instrumentation was usually often fixed and traditional. This is fine, but the songwriting and recording had to be razor sharp or the records would sound average. The addition of the horn section to Estourou Do Norte immediately grabs the listener, along with the punchy mix and wonderful performance by Dora Lopes.

Dora Lopes - Estourou Do Norte from compacto EP - Continental (1971)

Kazinho - Saudade Do Pará from O Samba Como Êle É - Popular (1971)

I am breaking the rules. Saudade Do Pará, sung by Kazinho, is not forró, but vintage samba with lots of dirgey choro flavoring. Released in 1971, O Samba Como Êle É is a fairly obscure record. Kazinho seems to have some cachet amongst 60s samba and bossa nova collectors. 1950s through early 1970s production usually catches my ear and Saudade Do Pará is a gorgeous record.

Kazinho - O Samba Como Êle É - Popular (1971)

Genival Lacerda - Vou Voltar Pro Meu Amor - from Mungangueiro Aloprado - Fontana (1971)

Genival Lacerda. The great and powerful. Vou Voltar Pro Meu Amor has it all. Great production, riffs, fantastic phrasing and velocity. Like few others in his field, Genival Lacerda is a master at getting to the heart of a song and connecting with magic. Pure Joy!

Genival Lacerda - O Rei Da Munganga - Sinter (1980)

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)

Antônio Barros - Já Faz Tempo Não Lhe Vejo from compacto simples - Fontana (1971)

Antônio Barros was a major composer on the forró scene in the 60s and 70s. Procurando Tu from 1970 was recorded by virtually every major act and artist in the genre. Já Faz Tempo Não Lhe Vejo, a follow-up single, is more obscure. Although he recorded several albums and singles, his career as a songwriter is what he is best known for. 

Antônio Barros - Já Faz Tempo Não Lhe Vejo from compacto simples - Fontana (1971)

Antônio Barros - Já Faz Tempo Não Lhe Vejo from compacto simples - Fontana (1971)

Sebastião Do Rojão - Bode De Dada & Meu Lindo Sabiá from É Sucesso compacto duplo - Cantagalo (1970 or 1971)

Bode De Dada & Meu Lindo Sabiá are choice tracks from a scarce, 4 song compacto called É Sucesso by Sebastião Do Rojão. I am unsure of the exact release date, but a post about the compacto on forroemvinil dates the compacto from 1970 or 71, based on a stamp on the cover. 

Sebastião Do Rojão - Bode De Dada from E Sucesso compacto duplo - Cantagalo (1970 or 1971)

Sebastião Do Rojão - Meu Lindo Sabiá from E Sucesso compacto duplo - Cantagalo (1970 or 1971)

Sebastião Do Rojão - E Sucesso compacto duplo - Cantagalo (1960s)

Luiz Vieira - Eu Sou Eu from Em Tempo De Verdade - Copacabana (1971)

This is Luiz Vieira's debut on this Forró LP Gringo. Vieira dipped his toes in multiple Brazilian genres during his recording career, including baião and forró. He gradually moved away from northeastern music as his career progressed. Eu So Eu features Vieira's powerful voice, a forró rhythm with a bit of samba cuíca. The LP, Em Tempo De Verdade, may also be of interest to Tropicalia collectors, because Rógerio Duprat was involved with the arrangements, along with Leo Peracchi, Moacyr Portes and José Briamonte. The majority of the LP features lush, nicely orchestrated ballads. 

Luiz Vieira - Eu Sou Eu from Em Tempo De Verdade - Copacabana (1971) 

Luiz Vieira - Em Tempo De Verdade - Copacabana (1971) 

Osvaldo Oliveira - La Vem Maria from Amor de Primeira - CBS 1971

Osvaldo Oliveira's 60s work was mesmerizing. He had a knack for composing gorgeous melodies and his vocal delivery was effortlessly rhythmic. Perhaps his high point was having his song, Secretária do Diabo, recorded by Jackson do Pandeiro on the classic 1966 LP, O Cabra Da Peste. Today, Oliveira's 60s records are sought after and valuable, especially the 1961 LP Osvaldo Oliveira LP, Eterna Lembrança do Norte. By the early 1970s, Osvaldo Oliveira had nearly abandoned forró. Perhaps he was searching for a new artistic direction or a musical path that was more lucrative. This turn towards the middle of the road is a bummer for collectors hoping to find nearly nonexistent gold from Osvaldo in the 70s. La Vem Maria is a fine tune and one of the last gasps from his 10 year forró period.

Osvaldo Oliveira - La Vem Maria from Amor de Primeira - CBS 1971

Osvaldo Oliveira - La Vem Maria from Amor de Primeira - CBS 1971

Catulo De Paula & Aluisio Gomes - Forró Do Barnabé from Catulo De Paula & compacto simples - Odeon (1970) & RGE (1971)

Ladies and germs, forróLPgringo presents a battle of the bands. In one corner, I present the composer Catulo De Paula. In the opposite corner is Aluisio Gomes, who sometimes had to put up with the ignominy of having his spelled Aloisio. Actually, I am unsure of what the correct spelling of his name is. Catulo's version of Forró Do Barnabé sounds gorgeous. The composer had the benefit of recording at Odeon studios, which were likely equipped as well as Abbey Road. While he lays back, Aluisio attacks the song with low budget breakneck speed and fever.

Check out the odd, flimsy Catulo De Paula LP sleeve. I have a few LPs with paper folded covers, similar to this one. I asked my dealer friend in Brazil if this was advance or bootleg artwork. He said that labels occasionally did this from the mid-1960s through the early 70s. The Catulo De Paula LP must be rare, because my collector friends in Brazil have never seen this album before.

Catulo De Paula - Forró Do Barnabé from Catulo De Paula - Odeon (1970)

Aluisio Gomes - Forró Do Barnabé - compacto simples - RGE (1971)

Catulo De Paula - Forró Do Barnabé from Catulo De Paula - Odeon (1970) - odd flimsy cover

Catulo De Paula - Forró Do Barnabé from Catulo De Paula - Odeon (1970)

Aluisio Gomes - Forró Do Barnabé - compacto simples - RGE (1971)

Jota Lima / Branca - Lindo Papel from O Novo Nordeste / 1 Festival Da Musica Nordestina - Musicolor (1970) / RCA 1971

Jota Lima - Lindo Papel from O Novo Nordeste - Musicolor (1970)

 

Branca - Lindo Papel from 1º Festival Da Musica Nordestina - RCA Camden (1971)

This week, I am stoked to present 2 versions of a great song, Lindo Papel, from two heavy, classic rare forró LPs. Jota Lima's O Novo Nordeste is one of the scarcest albums, on the level of José Bezerra and a handful of others who managed to deliver a classic without achieving massive notoriety when the LP was released. The production of O Novo Nordeste has a gorgeous gooey sound with great backing vocals. Lima has one of the most dramatic voices in forró, but manages to deliver without sounding sickly or schmaltzy. Branca also sounds like she is giving the performance of her life. While the production on 1 Festival Da Musica Nordestina is not quite as dramatic, Branca's voice is classically, and masterfully, husky Brazilian. It's rare to hear two great versions of any song in any genre. Each artist truly made Lindo Papel his and her own. Jota Lima released at least one more LP in 1975. Branca's future after her appearance on 1 Festival Da Musica Nordestina in 1971 is a mystery. Nothing has surfaced from her outside of this one recording.

Jota Lima - O Novo Nordeste - Musicolor (1970)

1 Festival Da Musica Nordestina - RCA (1971)

Djalma Pires - Forró Em Caruaru from Sucesso Tranquilo - RGE (1971)

Djalma Pires - Forró Em Caruaru from Sucesso Tranquilo - RGE (1971)

This LP was a nice surprise. Most of the music from this blog comes directly from Brazil and occasionally Discogs / eBay. I have never walked into a record store, even in New York City, and found anything forró until I lucked upon this. Djalma Pires is mainly a samba and MPB star, but tucked away on Sucesso Tranquilo is a fantastic and unusual version of Forró Em Caruaru. 

Djalma Pires - Forró Em Caruaru from Sucesso Tranquilo - RGE (1971)

Messias Holanda - Dá... Doi from Fogo Na Geringonça & Hoje Tem Forró + Estou Gamado - Fontana (1970 + 1971)

Messias Holanda - Dá... Doi from Fogo Na Geringonça - Fontana (1970) & Hoje Tem Forró - Fontana (1971) + Estou Gamado from Hoje Tem Forró - Fontana (1971)

This week, I am proud to present 2 great tracks from Messias Holanda. The first track, Dá... Doi, appears in two forms. The studio version is from a Fontana LP called Fogo Na Geringonça. Messias shared the album with Elino Julião and Zé Catraca. This is one of the first superstar forró collaboration LPs. Although compilations and collections featuring exclusive tracks from forró, and previously baião, artists had been released since the 1950s, releasing a full LP by 2 or 3 stars was new in 1970 and remained popular during the decade. The second version of Dá... Doi is from Hoje Tem Forró, a rare live album making its second appearance on forróLPgringo. The first featured Borrachinha. The versions of Dá... Doi are similar... in fact, they are so similar I am not sure that they aren't the same exact version, actually...

Messias Holanda - Estou Gamado from Hoje Tem Forró - Fontana (1970) 

Messias Holanda - Dá... Doi from Fogo Na Geringonça - Fontana (1970)

Messias Holanda - Dá... Doi from Hoje Tem Forró - Fontana (1971)

Messias Holanda, Elino Julião & Zé Catraca - Fogo Na Geringonça - Fontana (1970)

Hoje Tem Forró - Fontana (1971)

Borrachinha - Nascimento Grande from Hoje Tem Forró - Fontana (1971)

Borrachinha - Nascimento Grande from Hoje Tem Forró - Fontana (1971)

Happy New Year! I can think of no better way to start 2015 than with Borrachinha, a performer with a vast catalog of music that has yet to be reissued or digitized. I originally thought that this may be his last live appearance, but this track actually originated from a Philips live album from 1964 called São João No Brejo. Fontana, the publisher of this album, was a subsidiary of Philips. Hoje Tem Forró is even stranger for featuring Marinês, who never recorded for Fontana or Philips, as far as I'm aware. The cover shot may also be one of the oddest ever released for a forró collection.

Hoje Tem Forró - Fontana (1971)

Camarão E Seu Acordeon - Canto Da Siriema & Não Atrapalha from Forró No Palhoção - Tropicana (1976)

Camarão E Seu Acordeon - Canto Da Siriema & Não Atrapalha from Forró No Palhoção - Tropicana (1976) & Jackson do Pandeiro - Madelena from O Dono Do Forró - CBS (1971)

There are a myriad of brilliant forró artists. Some, like Camarão had a fruitful career and the recorded output of others, like José Bezerra, had an output limited to one great LP. Hidden in the credits are brilliant songwriters who never recorded, but contributed to great forró records. Madelena, from Jackson do Pandeiro's O Dono Do Forró is one of my favorite tracks. It was written by Juarez Santiago and José Sales, who also contributed to Camarão's Forró No Palhoção LP. While Canto Da Siriema is gutsy and clearly reminiscent of Madelena, the interpretation of the 2 songs is starkly different. Jackson's instrumentation and melodic excellence is an interesting contrast to Camarão's style, who favored ferocity to get the party started. The stylistic writing is apparent in both. Não Atrapalha, written by Camarão and Juarez Santiago, is an instrumental at breakneck speed.

Camarão E Seu Acordeon - Canto Da Siriema (Juarez Santiago and José Sales) - Tropicana (1976)

 

Jackson do Pandeiro - Madelena (Juarez Santiago and José Sales) from O Dono Do Forró - CBS (1971)

Camarão E Seu Acordeon - Não Atrapalha from Forró No Palhoção - Tropicana (1976)

Camarão E Seu Acordeon - Forró No Palhoção - Tropicana (1976)

Walter Franco - Tema Do Hospital from compacto simples - Philips (1971)

Walter Franco - Tema Do Hospital from compacto simples - Philips (1971)

I am taking a break from forró in this post to share a great post-Tropicalia 1971 single from experimental MPB artist Walter Franco, who I first heard at the now sadly defunct Tropicalia In Furs record store in the East Village. Joel, the owner, was playing Ou Não, a relentlessly weird LP, which is destined to be discovered by the Euro-intelligensia and heralded as one of the great unheralded strange classics of the 20th Century. Tema Do Hospital, Franco's first single, touches on that LP, but leans much more towards Gilberto Gil's 1968 LP, Gal Costa, Sgt. Pepper and the classic Tropicalia LP. Discographies are spotty online, but I am fairly certain that this was produced by Rogério Duprat. It certainly sounds like his work and the Wiki indicates that he was working with Franco around this time.

Click on the video above to play the song.

iOS? click here: http://youtu.be/h06A0lmBBbk

Walter Franco - Tema Do Hospital from compacto simples - Philips (1971)

Pau De Sebo Volume 5 - CBS 1971 featuring Jacinto Silva & João do Pife

Pau De Sebo Volume 5 - CBS 1971 featuring Jacinto Silva & João do Pife

1971, the year this compilation was released, may be the pinnacle for CBS forró. Jackson do Pandeiro and Elino Julião released what were arguably their greatest LPs, O Dono Do Forró and Aquilo. CBS had a red hot house band that backed most of the artists, led by A&R director and accordion master Abdias. Pau De Sebo was the longest running compilation series in all of forró. Each volume had exclusive tracks from each artist, making these compilations highly collectible. This LP also showcased the CBS debut of Jackson do Pandeiro, featured on forroLPgringo in December 2012. Pau de Sebo might have been a budget compilation series, but the tracks sounded stellar. The Jacinto Silva and João do Pife tracks were prime examples; beautifully recorded and mixed in lush stereo.

Jacinto Silva - Vem Amor from Pau De Sebo Volume 5 - CBS 1971

Click on the video above to play the song.

iOS? click here: http://youtu.be/Qm68rGb5OxI

João do Pife - Se Arrastando from Pau De Sebo Volume 5 - CBS 1971

Click on the video above to play the song.

iOS? click here: http://youtu.be/V61yZAuWy14

Jacinto Silva: What, me worry?

João do Pife cuts a rug...

Marinês - Na Peneira Do Amor from Na Peneira Do Amor - CBS 1971

Marinês - Na Peneira Do Amor from Na Peneira Do Amor - CBS 1971

The ladies of forró, part 4 of 4! Marinês is back on forró LP gringo, with the self titled track from her 1971 CBS LP. 1971 was a hot year for CBS forró artists. Jackson do Pandeiro and Elino Julião recorded my favorite songs from their vast catalogs that year. Marinês' work for CBS and RCA was exceptionally strong, often trumping the male artists in the forró dude ranch.

Marinês - Na Peneira Do Amor from Na Peneira Do Amor - CBS 1971

Click on the video above to play the song.

iOS? click here: http://youtu.be/56W6ROB32cM

Marinês e Sua Gente with Luiz Gonzaga

Clara Nunes - Feira De Mangaio from Esperança EP/LP - EMI/Odeon 1979

Clara Nunes - Feira De Mangaio from Esperança EP/LP - EMI/Odeon 1979

The ladies of forró, part 3 of 4! Happy Holidays All! Feira De Mangaio, written by Sivuca/Godalho may be the most famous forró track that I've ever posted on forró LP gringo. It was a huge hit for Clara Nunes, who is one of the great all-around Brazilian entertainers.

Clara Nunes - Feira De Mangaio from Esperança EP/LP - EMI/Odeon 1979

Click on the video above to play the song.

iOS? click here: http://youtu.be/Qc8V1jZutYE

Clara Nunes