It's time for college forró

A new phenomenon has been detected in the past four years in capitals like Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and it has been growing steadily: traditional forró (see forró) groups comprised of local middle-class musicians, who perform to a middle-class audience who is more into music than into hype. "In the beginning it was college-related, no doubt about it, especially here in São Paulo", says Tato, leader of the São Paulo-based group Falamansa, the biggest phenomenon to come out of the trend, having sold almost 1 million copies of their debut album, Deixa entrar...  (DeckDisc/Abril Music). "Then it just spread."

"We played college venues a lot, but we also played a lot of northeastern fairs", adds Duani, vocalist and zabumba (drum) player with Forróçacana, the main college forró band from Rio, who put out the debut album, Vamo que Vamo   last year, firstly independently, and later reprinted on the label Atração Fonográfica with a bonus track, a version of Jorge Ben Jor's Menina Mulher da Pele Preta. "To me, more than college forró, this is the forró of the next generation", says the musician who, along with his band, was invited by Moraes Moreira to record a version of the song Sintonia on Moreira's album, Bahião Com H, besides accompanying the musician during his Rock in Rio performance.

"I usually say that it isn't college forró, but forró made by college students", teases veteran musician Flávio José, who celebrates his 25-year career with the album Me Diz, Amor  , his second release on BMG after eight independent albums. "I only believe that forró will be really happening on the day when it takes over the media for good", says the singer and accordionist who has enjoyed hits with songs like Que Nem Vem-Vem and Caboclo Sonhador (both by Maciel Melo) and Espumas Ao Vento (Acioly Neto) way before they would be turned popular all over the country through the recordings made by Elba Ramalho and Fagner.

Follower of the same pé-de-serra style (traditional forró line-up with triangle, zabumba and accordion) elected by the college kids, he claims to be playing the exact same venues that he used to before the new groups boomed: "Venues where the middle-class will not go, where only the northeastern people hang out." Anyway, Flávio José believes that, even in a smaller scale, the kids have been helping the rebirth of the forró - once a style so successful in Brazil that the machines at the RCA (currently BMG) factory would work exclusively to print Luiz Gonzaga's albums.

Searching for the next Falamansa
The record companies have been trying to find a new darling of the college forró to compete with Falamansa, whose song Rindo à Toa was being used on a TV commercial ad. EMI has recently signed up Chama Chuva, Virgin has picked Circuladô and Universal chose Guentaê!. WEA is releasing next week the album Dance Forró Mais Que Eu, by Targino Gondim, writer of Esperando na Janela, the song that brought Gilberto Gil back to the top of the charts last year (not by chance, the CD is coming out on an arrangement between Warner and Gil's label, Geléia Geral). There are also MPB stars who have been releasing forró-only discs, which is the case with Elba Ramalho (Cirandeira  ) and Alceu Valença (with the upcoming Forró Lunar, preceeded by Forró de Todos os Tempos  ).

Nonetheless, the label with the largest college forró cast is DeckDisc, who got started in the business with Miltinho Edilberto (with the album Como Alcançar Uma Estrela  , from 1998), and then scored high with Falamansa and Rastapé (with the album Fale Comigo  ) and now bets on the elder acts Trio Nordestino and Virgulino, idols of the young forró artists.

Falamansa and Rastapé landed on Deck to participate in a compilation series called O Som do Forró. The label's head, Mônica Ramos, claims to have been impressed with Tato, a guy from the countryside of São Paulo who fell in love with forró. "Tato disagreed with the repertoire that I suggested. Then, he asked us to call off Falamansa's participation", she tells. The reason: the groups had a full album ready to go, with music that they had written themselves. By the end of the day, it was an excellent move for Deck: besides selling many, many records, they receive constant feedback from other artists who want to record Tato's songs.

"Falamansa saw Forróçacana perform countless times in São Paulo", reveals Duani, who has been struggling with his band for four years. Although the sales figures of Vamo Que Vamo are distant from those of their peers, Forróçacana have been playing about 15 shows a month (they have recently performed in France and Portugal). After a two-month stay in São Paulo, they returned to Rio and are currently making plans with mega-agent Manoel Poladian. In Duani's opinion, the only thing the band lacks is investment. "As much talent as one may have, that's not where recognition comes from."

Slowly, though, things are happening. "The agricultural fairs, which used to bill pagode, axé, rock and Brazilian country acts, are now starting to bill forró artists", claims Afonso Carvalho, Forróçacana's manager. The group has supported Elba Ramalho, recorded with Zé Ramalho on Nação Nordestina, accompanied Gilberto Gil, Lenine and Zeca Baleiro (who wrote Forró no Malagueta in return).

Authenticity
The prejudice against young southern forró artists is a fact, but it doesn't disturb anyone. "People ask us what we think of the college forró as if it weren't legitimate. They question wheter someone from the southeast can play forró, but they don't ask if someone from the northeast is able to play rock'n'roll, for example", explains Siba, of the band Mestre Ambrósio (from Pernambuco, in the northeast) which, in spite of not being exclusively a forró band, has many fans among the college audience because their music is strongly based on northeastern roots - just listen to Mestre's new album, Terceiro Samba  .

"There's no such thing as: 'Well, they're not northeastern, they can't play forró'", says Elba Ramalho. "I mean, the walls and guilt are over. Someone from São Paulo may very well go deep in the works of Luiz Gonzaga and Jackson do Pandeiro without no fear of intoxication (laughs). With everybody getting together and making music as good as that, the country grows stronger". Flávio José is another one to defend the college kids. "To make authentic forró, one just has to keep the rhythm untouched. Trio Nordestino have recorded with bass and drums, Luiz Gonzaga used the electric guitar on O Fole Roncou. There's gotta be a zabumba, triangle and accordion, and it doesn't matter which other instruments join in". The Paraíba-native uses electric instruments but manages to keep the original pé-de-serra flavor.

"Nothing is forbidden. I want to be involved with rootsy forró, but nothing will pervent me from adding some reggae to it", says Tato, a big Bob Marley fan. "The background of our music is the forró, but we'll play any kind of Brazilian music", completes Duani. The stars of the college forró allow themselves some freedom when it comes to lyrics. "I can't talk about the drought or the countryside, I don't live there", says the Falamansa leader. Even Paraíba-born Flávio José will choose love over society anyday. "I look for updated lyrics", he says.

One of the consequences of the visibility reached by the traditional forró was the fall of the oxente music, the pop-tacky forró from Fortaleza (capital of Ceará), promoted by bands like Mastruz com Leite and Magníficos. "That was a momentary hype, people don't want that, today", Flávio José believes. "The roots culture is returning even for the oxente groups", says Duani. "They used to think that [traditional] forró was outdated, but now they're writing pé-de-serra tunes."

Better yet, according to Tato, was to witness artists like Elba, Alceu and Moraes recording forró albums. "The truth is, they were always including one or two pé-de-serra tracks in each new disc, but they couldn't make a full forró album", he says. "Now, they don't have to disguise it as MPB, anymore." Duani agrees: "If you ask those artists what they were listening to in their youth, they'll answer Luiz Gonzaga and Jackson do Pandeiro. With the college forró trend, they were able to take on the pé-de-serra."

The Forróçacana member goes further: "We hope that people will realize how this music style that's been around for so long is so valuable. Forró is as groovy as the samba." Tato subscribes to that idea: "Falamansa's goal is to help the pé-de-serra go back to being part of the Brazilian music tradition." Amused by the surfer kids who now listen to Luiz Gonzaga in their cars, he's optimistc about the future of forró, be it college-related or not: "There are plenty of good acts, out there. Falamansa is just one bit of the movement."