Targino Gondim presents his forró, at last
Writer of the hit Esperando na Janela releases solo album on Gilberto Gil's label, Geléia Geral
Silvio Essinger
27/03/2001
"What's good about it, is that now there is production, a label and national distribution", celebrates Targino Gondim, born 28 years ago in the countryside of the northeastern state of Pernambuco. He is talking about Dance Forró Mais Eu (read the review), which he has just put out on Geléia Geral (Gilberto Gil's label, distributed on WEA) after six independent albums and one full decade playing forró balls in Pernambuco and Bahia.
What changed the life of the accordionist was the success achieved with the song Esperando na Janela, written with Manuca and Raimundinho do Acordeon and recorded on his 1999 album. He was playing a forró ball when the staff of the movie Me You Them fell in love with the song. Recorded by Gil for the movie's soundtrack
, it ended up becoming Gil's greatest hit since the MTV Unplugged from the early 1990s.
Targino's fist contact with the accordion happened when he was only a child. His dad, a truck driver, used to play the instrument. "I used to get thrilled, playing Asa Branca", he recalls. The child's play became serious in his teens. He dropped out of school (after finishing high school) to become a full time musician. After the death of Luiz Gonzaga (in 1989), he decided to dive into the King of Baião's works. "There was something telling me that I had to keep Gonzaga's work going", he says.
"When I started making forró, I did not know what I wanted, yet", Targino says. Slowly, though, he saw that he had enough songs to fill an album. In 1996, with one thousand reais (about one thousand dollars, at the time) borrowed from his brother-in-law, he debuted in the industry with the album Baião de Novo. He would sell the albums in his shows. "The first album sold five thousand copies, the second sold 10 thousand, and so it goes". His band, which was comprised of only a zabumba, a triangle and an accordion, later incorporated drums, bass, guitar and keyboard. Eventually, his independent albums would sell 50 thousand copies.
A part in the movie
Three years ago, Targino Gondim went to São Paulo for the first time with singer and songwriter Xangai. "Nobody knew me and I was already playing Esperando na Janela!", he says. He did a screen test to land the role of an accordionist in Me You Them, but he didn't pass it because the production was looking for somebody older. His father even handed one of Targino's CDs to Regina Casé, but things only started happening after the party. Besides recording the song, Gil invited Gondim to play the release parties of the movie's soundtrack. Today, stars like Elba Ramalho record his music (Gondim's Pra Se Aninhar is the first single of her latest album, Cirandeira).
"I hope that the forró won't be just a fever", says Targino. "I want to see it becoming a music genre". That's why, he claims, he has always been concerned with making music that would last for 10, 20, 30 years. "Forró is the people's language, it is never going to die", he preaches. Gondim says that he likes Falamansa, Forroçacana and other artists of the so-called college forró: 'They are searching for knowlege, and many groups in the northeast don't do this." But he also remembers that some of the bands are fake. "Some might think that you just have to include a zabumba, and they are making forró, already. But there's got to be heart and soul", he says.
According to the musician, the best thing that happened due to the success achieved with Esperando na Janela was that it has enabled him to reach audiences he had never dreamed of reaching. "I played the Rock in Rio (Roots Tent), the off-season carnival in Juazeiro, the carnival in Salvador (on Gil's trio elétrico, Expresso 2222), all at once. Always doing the forró", he savors. After turning down a few invitations to tour abroad, Targino plans to do it this year. Just wait and see.
What changed the life of the accordionist was the success achieved with the song Esperando na Janela, written with Manuca and Raimundinho do Acordeon and recorded on his 1999 album. He was playing a forró ball when the staff of the movie Me You Them fell in love with the song. Recorded by Gil for the movie's soundtrack
, it ended up becoming Gil's greatest hit since the MTV Unplugged from the early 1990s.Targino's fist contact with the accordion happened when he was only a child. His dad, a truck driver, used to play the instrument. "I used to get thrilled, playing Asa Branca", he recalls. The child's play became serious in his teens. He dropped out of school (after finishing high school) to become a full time musician. After the death of Luiz Gonzaga (in 1989), he decided to dive into the King of Baião's works. "There was something telling me that I had to keep Gonzaga's work going", he says.
"When I started making forró, I did not know what I wanted, yet", Targino says. Slowly, though, he saw that he had enough songs to fill an album. In 1996, with one thousand reais (about one thousand dollars, at the time) borrowed from his brother-in-law, he debuted in the industry with the album Baião de Novo. He would sell the albums in his shows. "The first album sold five thousand copies, the second sold 10 thousand, and so it goes". His band, which was comprised of only a zabumba, a triangle and an accordion, later incorporated drums, bass, guitar and keyboard. Eventually, his independent albums would sell 50 thousand copies.
A part in the movie
Three years ago, Targino Gondim went to São Paulo for the first time with singer and songwriter Xangai. "Nobody knew me and I was already playing Esperando na Janela!", he says. He did a screen test to land the role of an accordionist in Me You Them, but he didn't pass it because the production was looking for somebody older. His father even handed one of Targino's CDs to Regina Casé, but things only started happening after the party. Besides recording the song, Gil invited Gondim to play the release parties of the movie's soundtrack. Today, stars like Elba Ramalho record his music (Gondim's Pra Se Aninhar is the first single of her latest album, Cirandeira
). "I hope that the forró won't be just a fever", says Targino. "I want to see it becoming a music genre". That's why, he claims, he has always been concerned with making music that would last for 10, 20, 30 years. "Forró is the people's language, it is never going to die", he preaches. Gondim says that he likes Falamansa, Forroçacana and other artists of the so-called college forró: 'They are searching for knowlege, and many groups in the northeast don't do this." But he also remembers that some of the bands are fake. "Some might think that you just have to include a zabumba, and they are making forró, already. But there's got to be heart and soul", he says.
According to the musician, the best thing that happened due to the success achieved with Esperando na Janela was that it has enabled him to reach audiences he had never dreamed of reaching. "I played the Rock in Rio (Roots Tent), the off-season carnival in Juazeiro, the carnival in Salvador (on Gil's trio elétrico, Expresso 2222), all at once. Always doing the forró", he savors. After turning down a few invitations to tour abroad, Targino plans to do it this year. Just wait and see.