Azulão (Caruarú) - Essa Mulher Luxa Demais from O Baque Da Cancela - Esquema (1978)

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)

Luiz Wanderley - Bode Cheiroso (baião) from XO Forró II (1978) & Chantecler (1960)

Bode Cheiroso sounds more than a bit like Jackson do Pandeiro, but Luiz Wanderley always had a gift for taking forró / baião and making it cook. His catalog is one of the strongest of all of the 50s and 60s forró stars. Wanderley seemed to be an all-around entertainer in his time, with several vamped-up appearances in film available on YouTube. 

XO Forró II 2 (1978) 

Sebastião do Rojão - Bola De Baiano Não É Côco from XO Forró II 2 Rosicier - (1978) & Show (1964)

Some of my YouTube videos for Sebastião do Rojão are the most popular ones on the channel. This is interesting and somewhat surprising. His music is excellent, but I don't know why he would be favored over some of the other major forró stars of his day. The XO Forró compilation LPs are handy, because they assemble great 78rpm singles and rare LP tracks that range from scarce to impossible to find.

XO Forró II (1978) LP - Rocicier

Trio Nordestino - Chinelo De Rosinha from Os Rouxinhos Da Bahia - Copacabana (1978)

There are two different Trio Nordestinos. This version is from Salvador. After the Trio left CBS in the mid 1970s, they recorded primarily for Copacabana throughout the late 70s and early 80s. Unlike aging rock bands, Trio Nordestino seemed to become more rocking, albeit playing forró, over the years. Chinelo De Rosinha is a great example of the band that they became.
Trio Nordestino - Chinelo De Rosinha from Os Rouxinhos Da Bahia - Copacabana (1978)

Guerra Peixe E Orquestra RGE - Nação Nagô from Sedução Do Norte - Premier (1978) original release (1955)

Guerra Peixe (1914 - 1993) was a classically trained expert on Brazilian rhythms and even wrote a book on Maracatu. He was not a forró artist, but certainly embraced and respected the northeast. He was responsible for the arrangements on one of my favorite Brazilian albums, Os Afro Sambas by Vinicius de Moraes and Baden Powell. 

The arrangement of Nação Nagô, featured this week on Forró LP Gringo, would not sound out of place on the Tropicalia LP. The arrangement has some of the feel of Rogério Duprat's production. I was uncertain if this was a newer album recorded in the 1970s or a reissue. The catalog numbers next to the songs seem to indicate the latter.

Guerra Peixe E Orquestra RGE - Nação Nagô from Sedução Do Norte - Premier (1978) original release (1955)

Guerra Peixe E Orquestra RGE - Sedução Do Norte - Premier (1978)

Camarão feat Risoleide Alves - Filha Do Norte from Na Toca Do Camarao - Itamaraty 1978

Camarão & Seu Acordeon (vocals by Risoleide Alves) – Filha Do Norte from Na Toca do Camarão - Itamaraty 1978

Click on the video above to play the song.

iOS? click here: http://youtu.be/Jrxk-sB_Hwo

Filha Do Norte (Camarão – Cabo França) is a wonderfully strange and haunting song, reminiscent of spooky reverb-heavy North American girl group sounds from the 50s and 60s. Soft female vocals are atypical for forró, a genre dominated by powerful and commanding male and female singers. Because most forró artists played by the rules of the genre in terms of instrumentation and arrangement, it's refreshing to hear records like Filha Do Norte, which deviate from the norm successfully. Mestre Camarão (camarão means shrimp) had a long career and is still recording and performing, but Risoleide Alves, the guest vocalist on Na Toca do Camarão, is a mystery. I have been unable to find evidence of a recording career beyond this LP. Perhaps, like her ghostly vocals, she drifted magically into the night after her Camarão sessions.

a recent photo of Mestre Camarão

Messias Holanda - Naquele Forró from Cearense Do Bom - Uirapuru 1978

Messias Holanda - Naquele Forró from Cearense Do Bom - Uirapuru 1978

Click on the video above to play the song.
iOS? click here: http://youtu.be/wjovtgGLYIQ

Messias Holanda was a well connected forró star. Elino Julião, Jacinto Silva and Messias must have been tight.  All of these fellows seemed to appear on nearly every forró Fontana compilation from the late 60s and early 70s and on every CBS forró compilation LP, led by artistic director Abdias, released in the 70s and early 80s. They released albums separately but also appeared as duos on LPs as well.  It gives the outsider the impression that there was a large family or clique of the forró elite wiseguys from the late 1960s through the early 1980s.

Naquele Forró is a particularly great song from Messias Holanda.  It's thick production and scratchy guitars are signs of the direct influence of American funk (or indirect influence via MPB), which was particularly good for forró from this period.  His gruff voice sits perfectly in the mix. This might be Messias Holanda's greatest solo record.

The great Messias Holanda with his magic wand.