Glad to be of help, David.

A curiosity that may make things clearly for you and other people who
may have an interest in things Brazilian: "Forró", originally, is an
informal dance party in the rural Northeast. It is said—although there
is no clear evidence to prove it—that the word stems from the English
"for all", meaning a "dance party for all". It is said that British
companies in the Northeast used to have separate parties for 'the good
families" and "for all", which, in practice, meant, "for the working
classes", since no self-respecting member of the aristocracy would mix
with manual laborers. The British companies and the practice
disappeared a long time agor, but until, say, the 1990's, "informal
dance party for the common people" was the only meaning of the word.
Several kinds of music are played in forrós (but choros are
practically unknown in that part of the country) but a specific type
of music also called forró evolved in those dances.

An early form is found here: http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=0vwgxHmGrWo

The leather hats are part of the cultural identity of the Northeastern
man. Luiz Gonzaga emcees and asks Dominguinhos, who was back from an
Italian tour, if he had played the real thing over there in Europe or
had "sophisticated it a bit". Dominguinhos claims he played it like it
is and proceeds to give a demonstration.

And now, I will keep my big Brazilian mouth shut for a while.
Apologies for the invasion.


Danilo

[note from moderator : it's more than OK, Danilo, come back any time ;-)
A merry Christmas to all group-members - Patrice ]

On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 5:23 AM, David Richoux <tubaman@...> wrote:
> Danilo,
>
> Thanks for the links and clarification on the (non) relationship of
> Choro and Forró - I was in a difficult e-mail conversation a few years
> ago with a young forró musician who had recently moved to the USA and
> I got that part wrong!
>
> I think Choro is interesting, not only in the parallel (but
> different) relationship to the way ragtime and jazz developed, but
> because it is improvised, popular dance music that was played by
> amateur and semi-professional musicians and was later
> "professionalized" by more skilled musicians. I am still reading and
> learning more about this music - I had happened to find a Pixinguinha
> collection CD when my band was touring in Brazil and I have been
> intrigued by the music ever since.
>
> David Richoux
>
> On Dec 22, 2008, at 7:09 PM, Danilo Nogueira wrote:
>
>> Strange finding comments on Pixinguinha's music here (by the way,
>> pronounce it Pee-sheen-GHI-nyah) and choro music. Choro, like
>> traditional jazz, has never disappeared and has gone through more than
>> one revival.
>



--
__________________________________
Danilo Nogueira -São Bernardo Bra(s/z)il
http://tradutor-profissional.blogspot.com/