Washington Post
June 12, 2007
BRAZIL IS SO SEDUCTIVE that it can make a simple musical style that uses a zabumba (bass drum), an accordion and the sexiest instrument of all time — the triangle — sound like a mating call.
Forro is a century-old type of dance and song from northeastern Brazil, and its traditional lyrical content generally consists of love, sex, romance, sex, passion and sex. Oh, and homesickness, too.
While Forro in the Dark incorporates these traditions into its music, the Big Apple trio (and its many friends, including David Byrne and Bebel Gilberto) adds modern touches and song-structure tweaks to its debut CD, 2006’s “Bonfires of Sao Joao,” on the house label of the super-hip New York City club Nublu. Electric guitars, extra percussion and reed instruments blend into the sound, which retains forro’s essence while subtly updating it.
“Forro music is a style that has very simple harmonies, simple melodies and a very driven rhythm,” said zabumba player and bandleader Mauro Refosco. “So, like in any kind of club situation, it’s the perfect formula to make people dance.”
But New York City audiences, in general, don’t know forro dances, so they make up their own bump and grinds during Forro in the Dark’s live shows.
“It gets sensual sometimes; people really get on each other,” Refosco laughed. “If you go to a forro in Brazil and people know the dance steps, it’s a different type of thing than at Nublu. It’s more like conversation. But it’s music that’s welcoming to people to do any type of dance steps.”
» Iota, 2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington; with Yeveto, Thu., 9 p.m., $12; 703-522-8340. (Clarendon)
