A NEW BRAZILIAN BEAT
by Jim Farber

Simple lyrics, easy melodies, and a basic beat. Roll them together and you get any number of folksy musical styles, from Nashville country to Lousiana zydeco.
Naturally, a country as musical as Brazil has its own equivalent: forro (pronounced fo-HO), which comes from the northeastern part of that vast nation.
Traditionally, forro is played on three rudimentary instruments: accordion, triangle and zabumba (a bassy drum). While the primitive form has never had the international renown of more sophisticated Brazilian styles like samba or the bossa nova, it has become increasingly popular among Brazilian college students in search of something earthier (sort of like alterna-country here). Over the past few years, forro has even fired a spark of interest in this city.
Starting in late 2002, an energetic group called Forro in the Dark has been building a cult audience at the Avenue C club Nublu. “With the melodies and harmonies over a driving beat, it’s the perfect combination for people to dance,” says leader Mauro Refosco.
Not that his band play anything like traditional forro. These days, it doesn’t even have an accordionist (the original player left in a huff over the band’s anti-purist ways). You can hear the six-person group’s quirky take on the style tomorrow at 10p.m. when it plays at Nublu. It also performs Wednesday at 7:30 at Joe’s Pub in a show that promises guests you won’t want to miss. (Hint: they include one of the pop’s most globally minded stars.)
Forro in the Dark also releases its first full U.S. CD this week, “Bonfires of Sao Joao,” featuring appearances by David Byrne and Bebel Gilberto.
In place of accordion on the disc, the slot for the lead instrument often goes to the pifano, a flute-like contraption blown by Jorge Continentino. Refosco, who grew up in Sao Paulo, plays the zabumba. He came to the U.S. 15 years ago to get his master’s at the Manhattan School of Music. He started the group, named for a famous forro song, on his birthday four years ago. To celebrate the occasion, he got some friends together, includind Beck’s guitarrist Smokey Hormel, to play forro at Nublu. The night proved so exciting, it turned into a regular gig, and the band’s reputation spread to the point where it cut a song with one of Brazil’s hottest singers, Seu Jorge.
The new album includes some classic forro songs, but it’s this band’s playful abstraction of the style that makes it irresistable. “We don’t want to be rigid, especially because we’re introducing this music to many people,” says Refosco.
“We play forro so that everyone can find their own way in.”