The word "forró" describes a type of music, a rhythm, a dance, and the event where this music is played and danced. Forró is an important part of the culture in the Northeastern Region of Brazil. It includes many different dances and types of music. These music styles and dances became very popular in all regions of Brazil, especially during the Brazilian June Festivals. Forró has become more popular worldwide, and there is a strong forró community in Europe.

Origin of the music

Forró dances were popular events that happened in specific places, using different types of music. Forró, as a celebration and style of music, began in several states in the Brazilian Northeast. It started in areas near the cities and in the countryside of Bahia, Pernambuco, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, and Alagoas. Forró includes many traditional rural music styles from these states, such as baião, xote, arrasta pé, xaxado, coco, and rural samba, among others.

According to newspapers in Pernambuco, these dances were called "forrobodó," "forrobodança," or "forrobodão" by the end of the 19th century.

Origin of the term

There are several ideas about where the name "forró" came from. The most common idea is that "forró" comes from the word "forrobodó," which means "a big party" or "a lot of noise." This idea is supported by Luís da Câmara Cascudo, a Brazilian expert in folklore who spent much of his life studying the culture of Brazil's Northeast. The word "forrobodó" is thought to come from "forbodó," a shortened form of "fauxbourdon," a term used in the Portuguese royal court to describe a boring party. Over time, the word "forrobodó" became common in Portuguese speech to describe a fun but very wild and endless party. Portuguese people who moved to Brazil brought the word with them, and it gradually lost its negative meaning. Their children later changed the word to make it simpler.

Popularity

Forró is the most popular type of music and dance in Brazil's Northeast. In the past, going to a forró meant going to a party or going out. The music uses three main instruments: the accordion, the zabumba, and a metal triangle. However, the way people dance forró changes when moving from the Northeast to the Southeast. As part of Brazil's popular culture, forró continues to evolve. A style called college forró is widely danced by middle-class students in colleges and universities in the Southeast. This style is influenced by other dances, such as salsa and samba-rock.

The traditional music used to dance forró was introduced to the Southeast by Luiz Gonzaga. He changed the baião (a term from "baiano" that was used by artists to find inspiration before playing) into a more complex rhythm. Later, forró became popular across Brazil in a slower form called xote. This version was influenced by pop-rock music and became more appealing to young people in the Southeast, South, and Central regions of Brazil.

In 1989, an album titled Brazil: Forró – Music for Maids and Taxi Drivers was released internationally. Two years later, it was nominated for a Grammy Award in the United States.

Music

Forró, which refers to the music and not the dance, includes many different musical styles today. The original style of Forró, from which many modern styles developed, was created by Luiz Gonzaga and others like Jackson do Pandeiro and Marinês. This early style, also called forró pé-de-serra, is played by a group of three musicians.

The group includes:
• An accordion (tuned in a way that sounds dry, unlike the wet tunings used in Europe), and
• A rhythm section with a triangle and a zabumba. The triangle keeps a steady beat, while the zabumba plays complex, offbeat rhythms.

Luiz Gonzaga defined this combination of instruments as the foundation of Forró. Before Gonzaga, other instrument groups were used. The triangle and accordion combination existed in European folk music and is also found in Cajun music in the United States. Forró preserves a small group format with multiple percussionists, similar to what was common in Europe and the United States before drum sets became popular.

This instrument setup is a base and can change, sometimes including other instruments like fiddle, flute, pandeiro, bass, cavaquinho, and acoustic guitar. The triangle and zabumba are always part of the rhythm section in Forró, except in the sub-style forró rabecado, where the accordion is replaced by a fiddle.

The triangle plays a steady rhythm on all sixteenth notes of a four-beat measure, with a stronger sound on the third beat. This is similar to the role of rhythm guitar or the hi-hat in rock music, but the triangle’s high-pitched sound makes the third beat stand out. The zabumba, played on both sides, creates deep and sharp sounds that form the syncopated rhythms in Forró.

Forró often uses the escala nordestina (North-Eastern scale), a mix of the Lydian and Mixo-lydian musical modes. This scale is central to traditional Forró and forró pé-de-serra, much like the blues scale is central to Mississippi Delta music. The escala nordestina is clearly heard in songs like Luiz Gonzaga’s "Vem Morena." The accordion is the main melody instrument in Forró and is sometimes called the "Soul of Forró" or the "Soul of the Sertão," referring to the region where Forró originated.

As Forró evolved, it absorbed influences and developed into distinct styles. Lyrics in Forró have changed over time, reflecting its shift from a North-Eastern genre to one popular across Brazil. Traditionally, lyrics focused on life in the rural North-East, including themes like drought, migration, and longing for home (saudade).

An example is the song "Asa Branca," made famous by Luiz Gonzaga in the 1940s. It tells the story of leaving the Sertão due to drought and hoping to return when rain comes. The return is signaled by the arrival of asa branca, a white-winged bird that only appears when it rains. A recent version of the song was performed by the group Forro in the Dark with David Byrne.

In the more modern forró universitario style, lyrics focus on urban life and themes common in rock music. Like many genres, Forró also includes songs about love, romance, jealousy, and memories of past relationships.

Today, Forró uses a variety of instruments, always with a connection to the traditional accordion, triangle, and zabumba combination:
• Accordion
• Acoustic guitar
• Bass guitar
• Drum kit
• Electric guitar
• Fiddle
• Pandeiro
• Pífano
• Rabeca
• Shaker
• Triangle
• Zabumba drum

"Electronic" forró (modern forró)

In the 1990s, forró music began to change its style, becoming a more popular and widely sold type of Brazilian pop music. A forró music industry grew in Northeastern Brazil during this time, as many new bands, such as "Mastruz Com Leite" and "Limão Com Mel," formed. These bands used drums, electronic keyboards, and electric guitars. The songs' lyrics started to sound more like those of the sertanejo music genre, often focusing on romantic relationships and similar topics. Because of the use of electric guitars and electronic keyboards, this new type of forró was first called forró eletrônico ("electronic forró" in Portuguese). In the following decades, this newer style of forró became more popular in Northeastern Brazil than the traditional form of forró.

Dance

Forró has several different rhythms, including xote (a slow rhythm), baião (the original forró), arrasta-pé (the fastest rhythm), and forró itself. Each rhythm has unique dance styles that vary by region and may have different names depending on the area. Forró is danced in pairs, with one person leading and the other following. In some European forró communities, people are changing traditional ideas about who leads and who follows, and same-sex couples or women leading and men following are becoming more common.

Forró is typically danced closely, with the leader’s left hand holding the follower’s right hand, the leader’s right arm around the follower’s back, and the follower’s left arm around the leader’s neck. Some styles require dancers to stay farther apart, holding hands only at the shoulders.

Influences from dances like Cuban salsa, Samba de Gafieira, and zouk have made forró more flexible, allowing the follower—and sometimes the leader—to spin. However, spinning is not required. Complex movements may be difficult in crowded dance areas. Below are popular forró styles in Brazil:

• Xote: A simple style danced closely with left-left-right-right steps, no spinning.
• Universitário: Popular outside the Northeast, similar to xote but with forward and backward steps, like traditional bolero. It has many variations.
• Miudinho: The leader tilts slightly, holds the follower’s waist with their left hand, and the follower wraps their arms around the leader’s neck. Danced in one place with hip movements and spinning.
• Puladinho/Manquinho: The leader keeps their right leg still and uses their left leg to mark beats on the ground. The follower keeps their left leg still and moves their right leg. Partners may switch legs, but this is rare.
• Merenguinho: Partners move sideways with steps similar to merengue.
• Cavalguinho: Similar to puladinho, but both partners move their legs alternately, as if riding a horse.

Xote originally came from the schottische dance.

• Baião/Pé-de-serra: A style of xote with side tilts and faster rhythms.
• Cacau: From Paraíba, danced with fast leg movements while standing slightly apart.
• Amassa-cacau: A variation from Ceará, danced less closely with hip movements and leg motions that mimic squeezing cacao.
• Valsado: Danced closely, with partners moving sideways and crossing legs in front of each other.
• Valsadão: Similar to valsado but danced slightly apart. It is the most complex style with many variations.
• Forrófieira: A newer style combining traditional forró with steps from samba de gafieira, popular in Rio de Janeiro and parts of the Northeast.

Arrasta-pé: Danced only to its own rhythm, like a very fast xote with both legs marking beats on the ground.

Miudinho and puladinho can be danced to baião or arrasta-pé music. However, arrasta-pé’s fast leg movements make it difficult to perform. Some people include brega/calypso in forró because it has been influenced by forró, but it is danced to its own rhythm (not to be confused with calypso music).

Forró styles are often grouped into two families for practical reasons: Nordestino (from the Northeast) and Universitário (from the South).

Nordestino forró is danced closely, with legs often intertwined and a sideways shuffle. It has fewer step variations due to the close contact.

Universitário forró originated in southern Brazilian cities and is more popular outside the Northeast. Its basic step is forward and backward, similar to bolero or salsa. With more space between partners, it allows for more steps, turns, and movements, such as:

• Dobradiça: Partners move sideways apart.
• Caminhada: Simple steps forward or backward.
• Comemoração: A balancing step with the leader’s leg between the follower’s.
• Giros: Turns, both simple and involving both dancers.
• Oito: Dancers move around each other side by side.

Universitário forró is believed to have evolved from styles like pé-de-serra/baião, while Nordestino forró is closer to the original xote style.

International forró festivals

The first forró festival held outside Brazil took place in 2008 in Stuttgart, Germany, called "Forró de Domingo." Since its last event in 2018, this festival was the largest forró festival outside Brazil. A dance performance from the 2014 event has over 54 million views on YouTube and is the most viewed forró performance on this platform. Today, many forró festivals are held annually in Germany and other parts of Europe. Since 2016, festivals have also been held in North America, Russia, Oceania, and Japan. In 2019, more than 70 international forró festivals were planned outside Brazil.