Forro In The Dark

Forro is Brazilian pop music from the Brazilian countryside. Popularized by Luis Gonzaga, forro is traditionally played by a trio. The instruments are the accordion, the triangle, and the zabumba (a bass-y drum played with a mallet). Of course, no tradition is an island, and forro has sprouted many branches. Initially, Forro in the Dark was rooted in the more traditional versions of the genre, but after playing so frequently on the Lower East Side, and with many members of the band going on the road with artists ranging from Enrique Iglesias to Tom Waits and Beck, the band took a different approach. They shed the accordion and grew into a percussion-driven, guitar-, wind- and vocal- accented band. Without adding electronics or removing the essential emotion of the music, Forro in the Dark updated a genre that has been entertaining people in Brazil for over a century.

Evidence of their many fans can be seen on their debut release: Miho Hatori sings "Paraiba", a Japanese version of a Luis Gonzaga song originally recorded in the fifties. On the album¹s sublime climax, Bebel Gilberto joins the band to sing a version of "Wandering Swallow", a song originally released by Peggy Lee. David Byrne sings his own version in English of "Asa Branca" - a Forro classic, and the standard by which all Forro bands are measured. The collaboration is a veritable smile of a song, and raises the bar for all who follow.