Feature: Megwen Loveless on Luiz Gonzaga

<p><em>For our program on Luiz Gonzaga, we chatted with Megwen Loveless who has a PhD in Social Anthropology at Harvard University. She wrote her dissertation on forró music and dance, and teaches Portuguese.</em></p> <p><strong><em>What IS forró?</em></strong></p> <p><strong>Megwen Loveless:&nbsp;</strong>A relatively recent cultural phenomenon (dating from the mid-twentieth century), forró music arose in the Brazilian northeast sertão (roughly translated as "desert backlands") and has since developed into a national treasure of folkloric tradition. Like other young Brazilian musics, it is constantly evolving, though a traditional base line has been conserved by several roots bands - it is this traditional music, called forró pé-de-serra, that Luiz Gonzaga molded and marketed into a popular Brazilian genre.</p> <p>The pé-de-serra style is generally played by three-piece bands including an accordion, a triangle, and a double-headed bass drum called the "zabumba." (The name of the instrument closely matches the sound made by the drum: za-BOOM-bah!) What is so alluring about this music is the combination of African, Amerindian, and European influences: a basically Western melody line coupled with the wildly syncopated two-tone drum notes gets even the gringos up and dancing!</p> <p></p><div class="video-container"><iframe loading="lazy" width="500" height="281" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/zsFSHg2hxbc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>