Rob Curto's Forró For All

Rob Curto’s Forró For All is a band dedicated to Northeastern Brazil’s traditional “forró pé de serra” performed with a style born out of New York City’s diverse and dynamic musical culture. Forró is the accordion-based party music of the sertão, the dry interior of the Brazilian Northeast. Led by rising accordion star Rob Curto, with musicians from Brazil and the U.S., the band creates a sound that deeply respects the great masters of forró. Curto’s virtuoso accordion playing and the band’s diverse musical influences bring a fresh perspective to forró with improvisation, original compositions and innovations in rhythm and harmony.

Forró is lyrical, romantic yet excitingly syncopated music. The rhythm section, consisting of: zabumba (a kind of drum), triangle, and bass-guitar, churns out grooves such as baião, xote and arrasta-pé, while the accordion constantly improvises accompaniments and plays exciting solo lines. The songs tell of romance, friendship, love of one’s land, and life in the Northeast. A forró party brings everybody in the community together with couples dancing locked in a sensual embrace. This collective celebration is a creative response to the difficulties of life in the Northeast and an expression of fantastic musical intelligence and wit.

In the 20th century Luiz Gonzaga, the “King of Baião”, reinterpreted the music of the Northeast, and popularized it throughout Brazil, firmly establishing forró in the vocabulary of Brazilian popular music. Rob Curto’s Forró For All continues in his tradition and is sharing with the world the music that pulses in the veins of millions of Brazilians.

Rob Curto’s Forró For All recently completed a marathon Fall 2006 tour of the U.S. and Canada. They were featured at the Chicago World Music Festival, the Madison World Music Festival, the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St.Paul, Minnesota, and the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival in Bloomington, Indiana.



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