Forro in the Dark

Brazil is so seductive that it can make a simple musical style that uses a zabumba (bass drum), an accordion and the sexiest instrument of all time -- the triangle -- sound like a mating call.

Forro is a century-old type of dance and song from northeastern Brazil, and its traditional lyrical content generally consists of love, sex, romance, sex, passion and sex. Oh, and homesickness, too.

While Forro in the Dark incorporates these traditions into its music, the Big Apple trio (and its many friends, including David Byrne and Bebel Gilberto) adds modern touches and song-structure tweaks to its debut CD, 2006's "Bonfires of Sao Joao," on the house label of the super-hip New York City club Nublu. Electric guitars, extra percussion and reed instruments blend into the sound, which retains forro's essence while subtly updating it.

"Forro music is a style that has very simple harmonies, simple melodies and a very driven rhythm," said zabumba player and bandleader Mauro Refosco. "So, like in any kind of club situation, it's the perfect formula to make people dance."

But New York City audiences, in general, don't know forro dances, so they make up their own bump and grinds during Forro in the Dark's live shows.

"It gets sensual sometimes; people really get on each other," Refosco laughed. "If you go to a forro in Brazil and people know the dance steps, it's a different type of thing than at Nublu. It's more like conversation. But it's music that's welcoming to people to do any type of dance steps."

--Christopher Porter (Express, June 21, 2007)
- Washington Post

If the hats make the men, Forro in the Dark’s November 2006 performance at New York City’s upscale Joe’s Pub had the sextet strutting before Mauro Refosco’s zabumba bass drum beat out even a single low-end rumble. The leather chapeau de cangaçeiro may look part Parisian chic and part Conquistador helmet worn sideways, but it’s the traditional cowboy/bandit hat of northeast Brazil, birthplace of forro, the music that is FITD’s raison d’etre. By wearing it, Refosco and his group (which later in the night would include chapeau-sporting guest vocalist David Byrne) guaranteed they were the sharpest dressed cats in the room, and cast the Brazilian bluegrass rumba that beckoned the audience onto the Pub’s makeshift dance-floor in a polyglot frame. It also spotlit the juxtaposition of the populist roots and traditional pageantry of the music the group performs and the hyper-stylized urban locale the band calls home, posing the question: can the country-folk dance songs of Nordeste peasants become the life of a Lower East Side club party?

Considering the sound, the band and the scene involved, it’s not hard to arrive at a solidly affirmative answer. Despite its strict beginnings as a trio form (standard instrumentation: accordion, zabumba and triangle), forro has grown malleable as it’s traveled to Brazil’s cities and beyond. While it began as music for regional dances—the word forro is attributed to either a mid-19th century mispronunciation of the English “for all” by locals headed to parties thrown by foreign railroad workers, or to the shortening of “forrobodó,” regional Portuguese for party—it has become the national down-home sound.

“The idea is even bigger than that,” says Refosco, FITD’s de facto bandleader. “You can start your own forro as long as you follow the aesthetics. It’s dance music with simple melodies, simple harmonies, and funny lyrics, but a very driven rhythm, so people cannot stand still. They have to dance to it. And the words have to be easy enough for them to sing along and relate to.”

Over the course of a century, forro’s evolved to admit new instruments such as the pifano (wood flute) and the rabeca (Brazilian violin), and specialized dances and repertoires have sprung up in response. The tradition has also incorporated modern fashion and tastes. Says Refosco, “now because of electronica, people [in Brazil] make forro with electronic keyboards. And you have forro bands that play rock ’n’ roll. So it is not just a style—it incorporates other styles into it, different forro traditions within forro.”

Which is where Forro in the Dark comes in. Despite New York City’s reputation as a cultural melting pot, the music had remained all but unexplored in the Big Apple, until 2002. That’s when Brazilian expatriate Refosco, a former member of John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards and a veteran of David Byrne’s band, decided to gather a few musical compatriots and play some old songs from the forro songbook as part of his birthday party at Nublu, a then-new club on Manhattan’s Avenue C. Refosco had only one stipulation for the pros he invited: “play the music, not the instrument. Some music needs big solos. But some music carries itself. Everybody understood the idea.”

The night was a hit. “Man it was so nice,” says Refosco, his face glowing with the memory. “The people were dancing, we were having fun—everybody loved it. So we decided to do it again, and it became something that we did every two weeks. Then it became every week.”

Of course, when the rotating cast of players includes guitarist Smokey Hormel, whose country-fried licks and reverb-drenched tone has informed Beck and Tom Waits’ albums - Global Rhythm

The well-seasoned quartet behind Forro in the Dark assembled a provocative collage of tunes infusing the traditional sounds of rural Brazilian music with a rainbow of eclectic styles. Light a Candle, the group’s second full-length, is downright spellbinding. After coming together at New York’s Nublu nightclub, Mauro Refosco, Davi Vieira, Jorge Continentino, and Guilherme Monteiro, went from playing a weekly residency to touring the Americas. Recorded in six days, the new LP is the latest project for the globetrotting trendsetters. In Portuguese, “forro” means “to party,” and the band trades synths and techno beats for the pifano flute, sax, zabumba drum, percussions and guitar for an exceptional collection of shimmering, up-tempo beats. From the breathy and sexy vocals of Brazilian Girls’ Sabina Sciubba on the funk-reggae instilled “Silence is Golden” to the hip-hop fury of “Caipirinha” to the instrumental “Anão De Jardim”—Light a Candle is a rhythmic and refreshing soundtrack to adventures through tropical and summery locales. - URB

As much as I hate the term “world music,” Forro In The Dark kind of fits the bill. The band’s modern take on traditional Brazilian dance music is a combination of earthy woodwinds, energetic percussion, and rich vocals that transcends geographic and linguistic barriers. Though the four members are based in New York now, where they’ve become a staple at Nublu in the East Village, their music is grounded in their homeland. They released their latest album, Light a Candle, on Nat Geo Music. And, come on, you can’t get more world music than that.

Member Mauro Refosco has even taken that global attitude and worked with the likes of David Byrne and Thom Yorke as a member of the Radiohead frontman’s super band, Atoms for Peace. But this fall, Refosco reunites with his Forro In The Dark brothers for a North American tour with fellow worldly musicians, the perpetually touring band of gypsies, Gogol Bordello. Did someone say dance party?

Catch Forro In The Dark and Gogol Bordello when they stop in your town this fall. Tour dates below!

10/13 – Los Angeles, CA @ Club Nokia
10/14 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theatre
10/15 – Chico,CA @ Senator Theatre
10/17 - Eugene, OR @ McDonald Theatre
10/19 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theatre
10/20 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo
10/22 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
10/23 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
10/24 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
10/25 – Spokane, WA @ The Knitting Factory
10/27 – Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater
10/28 – Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater
10/29 – Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall
10/30 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom
10/31 – Madison, WI @ Capitol Theatre (Overture Center for the Arts)
11/02 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue
11/03 – Covington, KY @ Madison Theater
11/04 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small’s Theatre - Remezcla

Forro in the Dark is a band that brings not just the heat of Brazil to crowded, pulsing nightclubs -- it brings the heart. A group of five Brazilians and one American put their rhythmic spin on forro, a style of music and dance from the northeast of Brazil that is full of passion, joy, heartache and love.

Forro in the Dark has been sneaking up the radar, as its latest album, "Bonfires of Sao Joao," has been making waves from coast to coast. Featuring such impressive guest vocalists as David Byrne, Bebel Gilberto and Miho Hatori, FIT Dark has become an underground sensation. The band performs every Wednesday at a hip Manhattan club called Nublu.

Mauro Refosco leads the band, a percussionist with an impressive resume. After growing up in a small town outside Sao Paolo, Refosco turned his attention to music after he let the dream of being a professional soccer play die. Since graduating with a master's degree in percussion from the Manhattan School of Music in 1994, Refosco has worked with some of the most creative and innovative musicians today, including performing with Byrne for more than 10 years; collaborating with Brazilian Girls, Stewart Copeland and Gilberto; and still finding time to release a solo record, "Seven Waves/Sete Ondas." - Chicago Tribune

Last week’s (November 18) Forro in the Dark show was easily the most funky, sexy, and entertaining show Santa Barbara has seen in a long time. Not that there was ever any doubt concerning the partying abilities of South Americans, but Wednesday more than proved just how much fun Brazilians can be.

The night opened with an un-billed, newly-formed band called Satori Alliance. Their lead singer wore a funky red dress and crooned updated folk hits from El Salvador and Bolivia, while a colorful band of musicians played a variety of instruments, some very untraditional, in the round.

Though the ever-lovely SOhO felt a little empty at first, as the opening band finished their set a diverse crowd trickled onto the dance floor. As Forro in the Dark’s pulsing Brazilian rhythms filled the small space, that diverse crowd instantly became a group of long lost friends: men in ties flayed their arms like silly neon-colored inflatable air dancers, hipsters and hippies bumped hips, and girls in tight corsets and flowing skirts danced circles around barefooted men.

Forro in the Dark sound like a super funky Brazilian street party, appropriate since the word forr³ describes the “hip-swiveling, dance floor-filling, rural party music of Brazil’s northeastern states.” These guys sound like nothing you’ve ever heard before (or at least nothing this writer had ever heard before). The only mainstream group that come anywhere near Forro’s distinctively blended sound is Vampire Weekend, but where those adorable Ivy Leaguers set American pop melodies to borrowed African beats, Forro in the Dark is pure authenticity. They exude sincerity and joy in the way they interact with each other and with the audience.

Partying ways and good looks aside, these guys seriously wowed. Drummer Mauro Refosco is a Wayne Coyne-look alike whose also currently at work on Thom Yorke’s latest project; percussionist Davi Vieria does a solid Michael Jackson impersonation when he’s not wreaking musical havoc; Jorge Continentino plays the flute like he doesn’t need oxygen; and Guilherme Monteiro, a highly-trained jazz musician, is more reserved than the others until he starts shredding on guitar.

If you missed the show, you missed out on a great party. But Forro in the Dark’s latest album, Light a Candle, came out about a month ago and definitely deserves a legal download. Or check out the super-cool single and video they did with David Byrne for their song “Asa Branca.” And if you find you simply cannot go on without a regular dosage of Forro’s fun and funky live show, move to New York and hit up their once a week residency at Nublu. This writer is currently packing her bags as she types. - Santa Barbara Independent

Though it’s been available since mid-October, Forro in the Dark celebrated the release of their new CD, “Light a Candle” at two New York City clubs, Nublu on Wednesday and the Highline Ballroom on Friday night. Consider it homecoming as well as events to mark their new music.

“It was like the cherry on the cake,” said Mauro Refosco, the band’s founder. “We just played in Europe, almost single every day without rest, then we went straight to the West Coast.” For the past five years, they’ve played Wednesdays at Nublu wherever they’re in New York. Last week, “it was packed,” Refosco said. “There were long lines to get in.”

Forró is a folk dance that originated in northeastern Brazil, and the percussion heavy folk music that accompanies it has co-opted the name. It’s said the word is derived from a Brazilian word meaning a party. And that was the atmosphere at the Highline Ballroom, as Forro in the Dark fans danced joyously during its set.

“You can’t help but move your hips,” Refosco said. “It’s the kind of music anyone can dance to. A good samba dancer is almost intimidating, or with salsa or rumba you just want to watch. But with forró, anyone can do it.”

The band comprises Refosco on the zabumba drum, which looks a bit like a tom-tom worn around the neck and played on both sides, resulting in two different tones; Davi Viera on percussion and vocals; Guilherme Monteiro on guitar; Jorge Continentino on vocals, tenor saxophone and the pifano flute, a wooden instrument; and Alberto Continentino on bass. All are natives of Brazil, Refosco from Santa Catarina, Viera from Bahia, and Monteiro and the Continentinos from Rio de Janeiro.

“Each one of us has his own story about how we came to New York,” said Refosco, who earned his Master’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music. “In January 1994, the week I graduated, I got a phone call from David Byrne and I joined his band.”

A Forro in the Dark champion, Byrne compares how they’ve liberated forró to how Gram Parsons liberated country music –- by respecting the traditions but adding an updated edge. “Traditional forró always has an accordion,” said Refosco, whose father plays the instrument. “We’re breaking a tradition with the electric guitar. But we are keeping the roots of the rhythm.”

Byrne attended the Friday show at the Highline. “He’s a very special person,” Refosco said. “His music comes from his heart.”

Forro in the Dark’s new album may be tame by the band’s live standards, but it’s infectious –- the burbling percussion and the pifano flute under the vocals wheedle their way into our bodies, compelling us to swing and sway. In addition to the modern take on forró, the band plays a bit of reggae on “Nonsensical.” “Forro de Dois Amigos” races along as the pifano flute slices the air above the drums and Monteiro’s raspy guitar. “Silence is Golden,” featuring the Brazilian Girls’ Sabina Sciubba on vocals, sounds like a tune Kurt Weill might’ve written had he spend a season in Rio.

As he does on the album, singer-songwriter Jesse Harris joined the band onstage at the Highline for “Just Like Every Other Night.” It was the only song in English during the live show; on “Light a Candle,” which draws its name from a Neil Young, the split between English and Portuguese is about equal.

On stage, Forro in the Dark’s intricate music requires concentration, Refosco said. “We rarely rehearse. The way we learn and arrange is to play in front of an audience. English isn’t our native language. Ideas come in Portuguese. But more and more we learn to sing and compose in English.”

The quintet has one more gig slated for 2009 –- a December 5 set for Nat Geo Music in Washington. They’ll do the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, in March 2010. Having played this year’s WOMAD Festival in Spain, the band seems primed to join the ’10 outdoor-festival circuit. They’re looking into it.

In October, Refosco played three shows in Los Angeles with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, serving as percussionist in a rhythm section with bassist Flea and drummer Joey Waronker, who recommended him for the select gig in which the ad hoc band interpreted Yorke’s complex electronic music (See the Journal’s review of the Yorke performances.) “It was amazing,” Refosco said. “The challenge was to create the computer sound.” Without a percussionist free to add accents and colors, he said, “it would have been impossible without loops -– which was against the concept.” For the gig, Refosco needed more than the zabumba drum and turned up with an arsenal of equipment. “I went to my kitchen and brought out the pots and pans.”

“I found it really challenging,” he said. “Thom’s music sounds like pop songs, but it’s a little more complicated than that.” He said the rhythms became so complicated that during rehearsals he, Flea and Waronker would lose the place they were to enter. “We’d look at each other and say, ‘Where’s the one for you?’”

Forro in the Dark was on his mind during the Yorke gigs and rehearsals. “My band is always on my mind,” he said. “It takes up a lot of space.”

Celebrating with family and friends at the Highline was an special occasion, Refosco said. “We had a very long guest list. Everybody ate a lot of turkey and then we had to work it off.” - Wall Street Journal

While the New York City-based Forro in the Dark has evolved over the years, its recorded works have never done its live sets justice. Light a Candle accurately represents the band’s sound, yet comes nowhere near matching the experience of its concert. Not that its recorded works are bad; in fact, they are quite good. The latest features the best production that the foursome—*Mauro Refosco*, Davi Vieira, Guilherme Monteiro and Jorge Continentino — has encountered thus far. Monteiro’s guitar playing is better than ever. The unique flutes (Continentino’s pifano) combined with Refosco and Vieira’s excellent percussion rounds out this distinctively Latin American sound. The band tempers it with reggae (“Nonsensical”) and invites local friends aboard: Brazilian Girls’ Sabina Sciubba adds a chanson vibe to “Silence is Golden,” while Jesse Harris closes the record on the bluesy-country trip, “Just Like Every Other Night.” - Relix

BBC Review
"The closest translation of forró is ‘party’, so the only thing to do is dance."

Andrew Purcell 2009-10-09

Although much less famous internationally than samba, forró is one of Brazil’s most popular musical genres. It originates in the north east, and it’s all about dancing – preferably in couples, but also in a crowd.

Forro in the Dark are a band of Brazilians, based in New York, updating the traditional music of their homeland for the 21st century. Their version has the same rhythms, the same familiar sound of the triangle driving the beat along, but it’s also faster and more urgent, having sped up on its journey from the beach to Manhattan’s streets.

Percussionist Mauro Refosco, who founded the group, recently showed up in Thom Yorke’s new ensemble, alongside Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea in the rhythm section. He’s also a long-term member of David Byrne’s tour band, a favour repaid by the former Talking Head on Forro in the Dark’s last album, when he sang lead vocals on I Wish.

This time around, Brazilian Girls vocalist Sabina Sciubba, from the same East Village scene, is the star guest. She delivers a typically breathy, sexy turn on Silence is Golden, sounding like a modern-day Dietrich with a nasty hangover.

After that, it’s back into an accelerated forró, with the pífano flute taking a leading role, clattering drums and rapid-fire Portuguese lyrics tripping over themselves. All the music was recorded live, with minimal overdubs, and it shows in the infectious energy of tracks like Bandinha and Forro de Dois Amigos.

The closest literal translation of forró is ‘party’, so the only sensible thing to do is dance, even if you feel like a gringo. Drink two caipirinhas and your hips will start moving. More to the point, you won’t care what anyone else thinks.

Just when it threatens to get a little samey, along comes singer-songwriter Jesse Harris to close the album, on the trippy, Primal Scream-esque Just Like Every Other Night. “My poor head hurts so bad… but we’ll do it all again,” he sings. With a soundtrack this uplifting, it’s hard to argue. - BBC

Best known for their collaboration with Steve Earle on his song City of ­Immigrants, Forro in the Dark are ­Brazilian expats who have taken the ­rural music of Brazil's north-east and ­reworked it for the club scene in New York, where they mostly perform. Forro may not be as well known to ­western audiences as samba, but it's one of the great dance styles of Brazil, as shown by the more traditional forro tracks that kick off the album. The light, ­insistent rhythms are driven on by the deep zabumba drum, and the ­instrumentation includes guitars and the pifano flute, with some furious solos from Jorge Continentino. Played loud, this is wonderful party music, but the band use old-style forro simply as their starting point. Their new-style forro includes the breathy, half-spoken Silence Is Golden, with vocals by Sabina Sciubba of New York's Brazilian Girls (who are, of course, not Brazilian). And there's the ­final, laid-back Just Like Every Night, a gently stomping ­hangover song, in ­English, ­featuring impressive guitar work from Guilherme Monteiro. I ­suspect they sound even better live. - The Guardian (UK)

New York's Favorite Brazilian Band Makes West Coast Swing
by Tom Pryor

Forró in the Dark, New York's favorite Brazilians since Pelé played for the Cosmos, are taking their hip-shaking show on the road, with a string of west coast tour dates in support of their new album, Light A Candle.

Light A Candle, released on Nat Geo Music, is the group's first full-length release since 2006's acclaimed Bonfires of Sao Joao. Recorded in a marathon, six-day session at New York City's Flux studios with production by Fab, the album contains 13 all-new tracks and a reprise of Forro favorite "Nonsensical" from their 2008 EP Dia de Roda.

Taking inspiration from a Neil Young song, Guilherme explains how Light A Candle's title track is about the power of hope and faith in dark times. "Coming from a Catholic country like Brazil," he explains, "lighting a candle has a spiritual connotation - and not just in Catholicism, but in Candomble and other Brazilian spiritual practices, too, the idea of illuminating a space is very powerful. For me it's about using music to transform the darkness of the times we just came out of into something positive."

Old friends and fellow Nublu alumnae drop by to lend their voices to Light A Candle, too. Sabina Sciubba of Brazilian Girls graces "Silence Is Golden" with a sultry and knowing performance, while Forro's own Guilherme Monteiro, sings the lead on "Better Than You," and singer-songwriter Jesse Harris voices the rueful hangover ballad "Just Like Any Other Night." But their tenure in NYC hasn't erased Forró In the Dark's Brazilian roots, as covers of forró classics "Saudades de Manezinho Araujo" by Teo Azevedo and "Forro de Dois Amigos" by Edmilson do Pífano attest. Also on the trad side is the rollicking "Bandinha," built around forro's fast-paced arrasta-pé rhythm. Taken together, these 13 songs break new ground for Forro In The Dark, and extend the range of Brazil's favorite homegrown sound into entirely new territory.

Forró in the Dark Tour Dates:

West Coast:

Tues, November 17 on KCRW "Morning Becomes Eclectic"
Wed, November 18 @ Club Mercy @ Soho - Santa Barbara, CA, 8pm
Thur, November 19 @ The Mint - Los Angeles, CA, 8 pm presented by KCRW
Fri, November 20 @ Cafe du Nord - San Francisco, CA, 9pm presented by KPFA
Sat, November 21 @ Cafe du Nord - San Francisco, CA, 9pm presented by KPFA
Sun, November 22 @ The High Dive - Seattle, WA, 8pm
Mon, November 23 @ The Doug Fir Lounge - Portland, OR, 8pm

NYC CD release party!!
Fri, November 27 @ The Highline Ballroom - New York, NY, 7pm - National Georgaphic

Updating a beloved traditional musical style for a wider modern audience is a tricky proposition. Go too far and one runs the risk of offering either a weak simulacrum that simply adds a few semi-exotic musical idioms into safe, bland Western pop music. Don't go far enough and one is stuck with the increasingly common cop-out of simply slapping some drum loops and synths onto some old field recordings and calling it a fresh modern twist. Forro in the Dark do neither of these things. Formed by leader Mauro Refosco in 2002, originally as a one-off entertainment for his own birthday party, Forro in the Dark take the basic form of the Brazilian popular music style known as forro -- a percussion-heavy, accordion-led, intoxicatingly rhythmic dance music that is to northeastern Brazil as samba is to Rio de Janeiro -- and incorporate it into a cross-cultural stew that includes jazz and rock influences. Although a Forro in the Dark live performance can feature any number of guest artists, the core of the band for touring and recording purposes is Refosco on zabumba (the tuned drum that's at the heart of the style), guitarists Smokey Hormel (who also records and tours with Beck and Tom Waits, as well as his own albums as half of the bossa nova duo Smokey & Miho) and Guilherme Monteiro, reedman Jorge Continentino, and percussionists Gilmar Gomes and Davi Vieira. All six take part in the often chanted vocals. Forro in the Dark's debut album, Bonfires of São João, was released in November 2006 by Nublu Records, a small label connected with the Lower East Side club where the band maintained a long residency. Among the guests on the album were singers David Byrne, Bebel Gilberto, and Miho Hatori. Released in 2009, Light a Candle delivered more of the group's authentic yet eclectic take on forro. - All Music

Forro in the Dark gets its name from the Forro, a type of dance and music that's been popular in northeastern Brazil for more than 100 years. The style's traditional incarnation involves a three-piece band with a triangle, an accordion and a bass-like drum called a zabumba. But Forro in the Dark doesn't conform to those limitations, instead taking the lively and emotional genre to new heights by drawing on influences ranging from Enrique Iglesias to Beck. The resulting music sounds optimistic and celebratory, occasionally instrumental and always compelling.

The band was born when frontman Mauro Refosco threw a birthday party and invited a few friends to play with him; soon, Forro in the Dark began a tradition of sold-out weekly performances. The Bonfires of Sao Joao followed, hitting stores last fall. - NPR