Music For Maids And Taxi Drivers

Forro is the music of rural northeastern Brazil, or so I was once told by a newspaper article.

Who knew that northeastern Brazil had its own music? Intrigued, I up and went to the show that the newspaper article was referring to, featuring a band called Forro in the Dark.

Forro is heavy on the drums and the accordion. It can have singing, or not. The way Forro in the Dark do it, there is wooden flute, and trombone, and saxophone, and other random stuff thrown in.

It's impossible not to dance - just a little bit - while you're listening to it, and easy to imagine you're someplace tropical with a beach and a caipirinha. In fact, often there is a caipirinha nearby.

Sadly, Forro in the Dark's recordings (first song below) do not capture their magic live. But the second song here, from a CD compilation called Brazil: Forro, Music for Maids and Taxi Drivers, gives a little bit better approximation.

Forro in the Dark: Suor de Pele Fina

Jose Orlando: Eu Tambem Quero Beijar