Forró For All

To find the musical home of this artist, one must journey Brazil’s North East country side, where the style of music know as forro was born.

Rob Curto’s Forró For All highlights a stunning mixture of musical elements. Afro-Brazilian percussion intertwines with the European mazurkas and waltzes of the late 19th century, lead by the charging sound of the accordion. In this way it bears a resemblance to the American Creole hybrid of Zydeco, which combined the accordion driven music of French and Acadians with backbeat of rhythm and blues.

Forró, once a regional sound, has become a part of Brazil’s wider musical heritage and influenced major Brazilian artists like Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso. Curto, the band’s founding member, is a trained jazz musician who has immersed himself in Brazilian music and culture, where he spent years playing.
Latest CD:“Forró For All” (Rob Curto 2006)

Feature first aired on 12/16/06
Song clips: “Nenem Mulher”, “Feira de Mangaio”, “Qui Nem Jilo”/”Balança a rede”/”Xamego” (Luis Gonzaga)