Forro

According to one version, forró comes from the word forrobodó , meaning a big noisy party or “noise, din, excitement”. This view was put forward by Brazilian folklorist Câmara Cascudo , who studied northeastern Brazil for almost his entire life. It is possible that this meaning comes from the French concept of fauxbourdon , which was used at the Portuguese court to refer to boring parties.

According to another version, the word forró comes from the English expression “for all” (for all - English). English engineers during the construction of the Great Western Railroad (Great Western Railroad) arranged dances on weekends for both their staff and for the population in general ("for all"). This theory is confirmed by the similar practice of US Air Force personnel stationed at the Natal Air Force Base during World War II. Many of the Brazilians surveyed support this theory.

There is also a third version: the word came from the number of locomotives used by English engineers, ramming the rails of the railway, “40” or “Four-oh”, simplified by the Brazilians to “forró”.

Currently, the concept of “forró” in Brazil has several meanings: a folk festival in the northeast of Brazil, a dance, a musical genre, a place for dancing forro, a noisy party.

Forró’s oldest songs are about everyday work and everyday life. Following them appeared songs full of romance and passion about love, hopes, dreams, memories of the past and homesickness.

Forro dance was performed accompanied by various regional Brazilian folk dance rhythms: Xote , Xamego , Baião , Xaxado , etc. As a result, these rhythms formed the forro music genre, which came from the dance of the same name.

The author of a series of books on Brazilian ballroom dancing, Marco Antonio Perna, wrote: “Forro is a general term for various rhythms in northeastern Brazil: bayon ( baião ), shota ( xote ), shashada ( xaxado ). Despite the fact that for decades, migrants from the northeast danced forro throughout the country, forro became fashionable in 1997, combining all the dances and rhythms of northeast Brazil. In addition, forro has incorporated the movements of other ballroom dances ( danças de salão ) of Rio de Janeiro. At that time, it was thanks to Forro that the youth showed an interest in ballroom dancing ” ^[4] .

There are three main forro rhythms: shote ( xote - usually a slow rhythm), bayon (baião), arrasta-pe (arrasta-pé - the fastest of the three), and, in addition, many dance styles that vary depending on locality and can be known by different names in different places. Forro dance in pairs, usually partners stay close to each other. With his left hand, the man holds the woman's right hand as in a waltz, the right hand on her back. The woman’s left hand is around the man’s neck; in this style, the man’s right leg is between the woman’s legs, following the African tradition of closed hips. Other styles are performed a little separately or at a distance of decency, holding only with hands. The influence of salsa and other Caribbean dances gave forró dynamism by various twists and turns of partners, although this is not always possible on crowded dance floors ( forrós ).

The most popular forró styles in Brazil:

Xote

• Basic style, executed in a closed position, the steps are small, without dynamic rotations and turns;
• forró-love: resembles a shota, but is heavily influenced by the zouk dance;
• universitário: the most popular style outside of northeast Brazil, similar to shota, but has a more pronounced dynamics. Contains many variations of movements;
• miudinho: a man dances with his left side tilted slightly, his left arm around the woman’s waist, and her two arms around his neck. Performed in one place (dynamics is created by rotations), has many stylized movements;
• puladinho / manquinho: the partner’s right leg is motionless and his left leg beats the rhythm, while the partner’s left leg is motionless and her right leg beats the rhythm (partners can change positions);
• merenguinho: partners move in parallel using movements similar to merengue dance;
• cavalguinho: very similar to puladinho, but the legs of the partners move at a different pace, as if imitating horseback riding.

The Brazilian dance of the Shochi originated from the eco-season (escocesa: xote <xótis <chótis <Schottisch ^{[5] [6]} ), and already in the form of a counter - dance influenced the formation of the Forro dance.

Baião / pé-de-serra

The basis is the style of shote, but partners go from side to side and move less around the site due to small steps to keep up with faster music;

• cacau: comes from the state of Paraiba , where the partners dance a little apart from each other with very fast movements of the legs;
• amassa-cacau: a variant of cacau from the state of Ceara , the partners are kept at a distance from each other, since the dance is based on the active movements of the hips and legs, which imitate a person climbing a cocoa tree;
• valsado: executed in close contact, consists of moving along the sides, crossing legs in front of each other;
• valsadão: performed as valsado , but slightly at a distance from each other. Together with universitário , this is the most diverse style in movements and variations;
• forrófieira: the newest style, arising from the borrowing of traditional forró dance movements from samba de gaffeira , and which has become quite popular in Rio de Janeiro and some areas of northeast Brazil.

Arrasta-pé

In many ways, it looks like a very fast shot, but the emphasis of the dance is performed by both legs in turn. The drawing is different from shote or cayan, which determines the characteristics of the dance.

Miudinho and puladinho can be played to baião music, and even to arrasta-pé , but in the latter case, the movements of the legs are so intense that it is heavy and unnatural. Some also include brega / calypso in the forro category, as this dance has been heavily influenced by forro for decades, but is performed at its own pace and not accompanied by calypso style music.

The father of forro is considered to be the Brazilian accordionist, composer and singer Luis Gonzaga ^[8] (1912-1989), who made a huge contribution to the creation, development and distribution of forro in Brazil. As well as artists such as: ^[9] (1919–1982), ( port. Marinês , 1935–2007), Mestre Zinho (Mestre Zinho, 1943–2010) (port.) . ^{[10] [11]} ( port. Dominguinhos , 1941-2013).

Forró musicians: , , (“trio from the Northeast ”) ^[12] , (the “Gorgeous” group), (“Black panties” ), ( Watercress with Milk), , (Lemon with Honey), (abbreviated form of the name of the singer - Severin), ^[13] , , Geraldinho Lins ( port. Geraldinho Lins ), and ^[14] . As well as new performers: , (“Airplanes forro”), (“Shameless girl”), (“Knights of Forro”), (“Skirt with a rim”), Forrosteiros (Russian group of forro from Moscow), Forró Pé de Serra (port.) . ^[15] ; musicians: , Trio Juriti ^[16] , , (“Arlindou with 8 basses”: he got such a nickname because he started playing at 10 accordion ( port. sanfona ) with 8 basses ), Vicente (Vicente) Neri ( port. Vicente Nery ), , Arlene Farías (port.) . ^[17] , , Aldemario Coelho ^[18] ( port. Aldemário Coelho ), Delmira Barrus (port.) . ^[19] and others.

The 2008 documentary “For the Love of Forro” ( port. “Por Amor ao Forró” ) ^[20] talks about some of the new forro artists and contains videos of excerpts from their performances at forro festivals.

On September 6, 2005, Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva approved the law on Dia Nacional de Forró . The holiday is celebrated on December 13 and is dedicated to the birthday of the father of the Forro-Brazilian musician and composer Luis Gonzag ^[21] .

• Сайт ежегодного российского фестиваля форро
• Greatest Forró Festival in Europe — Forró de Domingo Festival — Stuttgart / Germany 7th edition of Europe's greatest Forró Festival! June 19th till 22nd, 2014
• «Por Amor ao Forró» («Ради любви к форро») (порт.) .   (англ.) . — документальный фильм о форро 21 века на португальском языке с английскими субтитрами. Перевод описания видео на португальском языке:

  Документальный фильм, созданный в 2008 году Адрианой Каитану ( порт. Adriana Caitano ) и Галтоном Се ( порт. Galton Sé ) — студентами отделения журналистики факультета социальных коммуникаций . В фильме рассказывается о продолжателях традиции пэ-де-серра ( порт. forró pé-de-serra ) — молодежи из Центрально-западного , Юго-восточного и Южного регионов Бразилии ( порт. Centro-Sul do Brasil ), которая предпочитает в основном традиционное форро, ставшее популярным в 50-х годах благодаря Луису Гонзаге и основанное на триаде инструментов треугольник — —аккордеон ( порт. sanfona ). Эти музыкальные активисты подробно изучают жанр форро, слушая старые виниловые пластинки, и собираются несколько раз в год на фестивали, где форро исполняется 24 часа в сутки. В фильме показаны видеозаписи с трех таких фестивалей: Rootstock ( Сан-Паулу ), RioRoots ( Рио-де-Жанейро ) и Национальный фестиваль форро в (штат. Эспириту-Санту ). [Певец местре Зинью (Mestre Zinho) (порт.) . , дающий в фильме интервью, скончался 30 января 2010 г.]

  External video files
  	«Por Amor ao Forró» («Ради любви к форро»)