Brazil is located in eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Shares borders with: Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Northeastern Brazilian Music
In the 20th century, mass migrations from the northeast introduced forró to Brazilian cities in the south. One of the most famous of these migrants was accordionist Luiz Gonzaga who was born in 1912 in the Northeastern state of Pernambuco. His father, Januario, played button accordion or oito baixos: and was also an accordion builder and repairman. Luiz learned to play the oito baixos and then the piano accordion.
Luiz left the Northeast and ended up in Rio de Janeiro where he pursued a career as a musician, and ended up performing regularly on the radio playing waltzes, fox trots, sambas, and tangos. He felt the need to express his own culture, and roots, and to sing about the experiences of the displaced Northeastern immigrants working in the southern cities. He became a tremendous national success, striking a chord in the hearts of Brazilians, and popularizing forró throughout Brazil. (source: Rob Curto’s Forro For All).
Brazilian Musical Genres
Aboio – wordless song used by sertao cowboys.
Afro-samba – samba combined with candomble musical elements.
Axe music – Afro-Bahian pop style.
Benditos – traditional chants performed during the traditional Catholic processions.
Bossa Nova is a popular music style of Brazil created in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It is based on the samba, combining Brazilian rhythms and American jazz. In 1958, Brazilian guitarist João Gilberto released an LP album titled Chega de Saudade (No More Blues), with which he widely popularized and in many ways represented the emerging bossa style with his unique guitar styling, soft, almost whispered vocals and mesmerizing compositions.
Some of the leading bossa nova artists include João Gilberto, Chico Buarque, Astrud Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Toquinho, and Stan Getz. Several books provide an insight into the world of bossa nova: Bossa Nova: The Story of the Brazilian Music That Seduced the World, The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova, and the Popular Music of Brazil, and The Latin Beat: The Rhythms and Roots of Latin Music, from Bossa Nova to Salsa and Beyond.
Bumba-meu-boi or boi-ceará – songs and dances of a religious cult to the ox, with Portuguese roots. Northeastern Brazil.
Cancao ladainha is a long poem traditionally sung at the beginning of a capoeira roda, while players remain crouched in front of the berimbau. Ladainha means litany.
Candomble – Afro-Brazilian ritual music that includes Yoruba deities.
Dança do coco, originated by Afro-Brazilians in northeastern Brazil.
Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art and dance style developed by the the former enslaved African peoples of Brazil to teach each other how to defend themselves. The music is as unique as the instruments themselves.
Carimbo – Afro-Brazilian song and dance from Para.
Choro – An early form of popular urban instrumental music of Brazil, developed in the late nineteenth century in Rio. This ever-evolving genre has diverse roots ranging from classical European salon music to Afro-Brazilian rhythms and instrumentation.
Choro Novo – Choro novo literally means “new choro.” It is a combination of choro, jazz and Afro-Brazilian music.
Ciranda – folk song and dance from Pernambuco.
Coco – Afro-Brazilian song and dance in 2/4 from the northeastern coast.
Embolada – Improvised poetry in a question-answer structure, backed by the pandeiro’s rhythm. It is typical in the northeast of Brazil.
Forró – The essence of Northeast Brazil. Born in the sertao, the arid interior of the region, forró was formed by the many traditions cultures and musical styles of the Northeast. With influences from Africans, Portuguese and indigenous Brazilians, forró is uniquely Brazilian.
European button accordion music was fused with African-based rhythms to create ‘forró pe-de-serra’ (traditional forró) played on accordion, triangle and zabumba (a low drum worn at an angle). Forró is danced by couples locked in a sensual embrace and has three main rhythms: baiao, xote and arrasta-pe. (source: Rob Curto’s Forro For All) Read more about forró.
Excelencia chants – traditional Catholic chants to prepare the dead’s soul to the encounter with God, usually performed during death-watches.
Lambada – a sensual dance that became popular in the 1980s. It includes Brazilian and Spanish-Caribbean influences.
Maracatú – Dance and music. The Fortaleza maracatu is the Baque Virado or Nação lines and is celebrated during carnivals.
Samba – A rhythmic genre with African musical roots that normally includes the sounds of the pandeiro, reco reco, tamborim and cuica. It is associated with yearly carnaval (Brazilian carnival). It originated in Bahia and became very popular in Rio de Janeiro. There are two types of samba: the drumming ensembles that play during carnival and the samba song that is more melodic.
The escola de samba is a samba school, an organization that plans and displays samba parades during Carnival. It typically has many other social functions and may serve as the community center in its neighborhood (usually a lower income area of the city).
Samba de Coco – A fusion between the Fulnio Indian culture of Brazil and the samba. Samba de Coco is a variation of the Coco. The origin of Coco lays on the meeting between the native Brazilian culture and the central African culture, which arrived with the slaves to the Northeast of Brazil and involves the circular dance that looks to the ground. The dance has a variety of steps. The role of the percussion is to connect to the poetry. Traditionally, the dance is connected to the construction of houses made of clay and straw. The owner of the house calls the people of the community to do the Coco inside the house, on the clay floor. While everyone is dancing, singing and making percussion sounds with their feet, the clay is flattened to ground level.
Samba de Roda – read the article The Samba de Roda.
Torém – Dance originated by the tremembés indigenous community in northeastern Brazil.
Brazilian Musicians
Airto Moreira
Aleh Ferreira
Ana Maria and Matias Moreno
André Abujamra
Andre Vasconcellos
Anima
Antonio Carlos Jobim
Astrud Gilberto
Caetano Veloso
Carlos Malta
Cidade Negra
Clube do Balanço
Cordel Do Fogo Encantado
Cyro Baptista
David Tavares
Daniel Santiago
Daniela Mercury
Daúde
Dona Onete
Dori Caymmi
Dudu Lima
Eliane Elias
Egberto Gismonti
Elis Regina
Elza Soares
Familia Alcantara Coral
Fernanda Cunha
Fethxá
Flora Purim
Gabriel Grossi
Gal Costa
Gilberto Gil
Guinga
Hamilton de Holanda
Hermeto Pascoal
Jaques Morelenbaum
João Bosco
Jorge Ben Jor
Jovino Santos Neto
Joyce
Lenine
Luiz Gonzaga
Marcio Bahia
Maria Bethania
Maria Rita
Mariella Santiago
Mariene de Castro
Marisa Monte
Mestre Lourimbau
Milton Nascimento
Moacir Santos
Monica Salmaso
Neguinho da Beija-Flor
Nó em Pingo D’Água
Paula Morelenbaum
Paulo Bellinati
Paulo Moura
Pretinho da Serrinha
Rabo de Lagartixa
Renata Rosa
Renato Braz
Revista do Samba
Ricardo Herz
Rita Ribeiro
Rogê
Rosa Passos
Rubem Dantas
Sebastião Tapajós
Selma Reis
Sergio Mendes
Tania Maria
Toquinho
Trio da Paz
Velha Guarda da Mangueira
Vinicius Cantuaria
Vinicius de Moraes
Virginia Rodrigues
Vitor Da Trindade
Yamandu Costa
Ze Cafofinho
Zezo Ribeiro
