Artist Profiles: Rob Curto’s Forro For All

Rob Curto

Forró For All is a band dedicated to the sound of Northeastern Brazil’s traditional ‘forró p’ de serra’ performed with a sensibility born of New York City’s diverse and dynamic musical culture.

Forró For All’s founder accordionist Rob Curto mixes elements of jazz with a language and feel that is distinctly Brazilian. Curto’s virtuosic accordion playing and the band’s wide-ranging musical influences bring a fresh perspective to forró with improvisation, original compositions and rhythmic and harmonic innovations. Rob has spent years intimately involved with the music and culture of the Brazilian Northeast working as a musician in Brazil and has developed a reputation there as an extremely skillful and artistic forró accordionist.

He studied with great accordionists from Pernambuco, Brazil such as Arlindo dos Oito Baixos, Camario and Silveirinha and with guitarist Alencar 7-Cordas from Paraiba. Rob keeps as his main source the work of Dominguinhos (with whom he has performed) Sivuca, Oswaldinho, Hermeto Pascoal and of course the great innovator of forró Luiz Gonzaga.

In addition to his work with Forró For All, Rob Curto tours and records with world music artists such as Mexican singer Lila Downs and klezmer artist David Krakauer and also recorded with Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista.

Discography:

Forró For All

Author: Angel Romero

Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.

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