“Rob Curto’s Forró For All on tour Fall of 2006”

Rob Curto’s Forró For All will perform at a Brazilian Independence Day celebration at Zaphod Beeblebrox on Friday, September 8^th. Zaphod Beeblebrox is located at 27 York Street in Ottawa and it’s website is: www.ZaphodBeeblebrox.com. Doors open at 8:00 PM. Advance tickets are $10 for a limited time and they can be purchased by calling Ticket Web at: 1-888-222-6608 or by visiting: www.ticketweb.ca. The group’s website is: www.forroforall.com.

Forró (Fo-HO) music is the heartbeat of Northeast Brazil . Rob Curto’s Forró For All has electrified dances in New York City for years as forró’s ambassadors in the U.S. Made up of a team of musicians from Brazil , and the U.S. , now they are sharing with the world the rhythm that pulses in the veins of millions of Brazilians.

Born in the sertão (ser-TOWN), the arid interior of Northeast Brazil , forró was formed by the many traditions, cultures, and musical styles of the Northeast. With influences from Africans, Portuguese, and Native Americans, forró is uniquely Brazilian. European button accordion music was melded to African-based rhythms to create traditional forró, also called:“forró pé-de-serra” (fo-HO peh de SE-ha) played on accordion, triangle, and zabumba (a low drum worn at an angle). Forró is danced by couples locked in a sensual embrace and has three main rhythms: baião (bye-OWN), xote (SHO-chee), and arrasta-pé (aha-sta-PEH).

Life has always been a struggle for many in the dry Northeast due to the control of wealth in the hands of a few rich landowners, and the “seca”, periodic droughts that afflict the sertão. Over the last century this has caused mass migrations of poor people from the Northeast to cities in southern Brazil , escaping misery, and carrying with them their music and culture.

One of the most famous of these migrants was the legendary accordionist Luiz Gonzaga who was born in 1912 in the countryside of the Northeastern state of Pernambuco. His father, Januário, played the button accordion or “oito baixos” (oy-to BA-shos): and was also an accordion repairman. As a child Luiz learned to play the oito baixos and, later, the piano accordion. Luiz left the Northeast and ended up in Rio de Janeiro where he pursued a career as a musician, and came to perform regularly on the radio playing popular commercial music of the time. He felt the urgent need to express his own culture, and roots, and to sing about the experiences of the displaced Northeastern immigrants working in the southern cities. He struck a chord in the hearts of Brazilians, and in his miraculous musical career that spanned over sixty years he tirelessly defended the music and culture of the sertão and fimly established forró in the vocabulary of Brazilian popular music.

In the tradition of Luiz Gonzaga, Rob Curto’s Forró For All is a band dedicated to the sound of “forró pé-de-serra”, but performed with a sensibility born of New York City ’s diverse and dynamic musical culture. Curto’s virtuosic accordion playing and the band’s wide-ranging musical influences bring a fresh perspective to forró with improvisation, original compositions, and rhythmic and harmonic innovations. Accordionist Rob Curto, founder of Forró For All, has his foundation in jazz piano. He spent years studying in Brazil with musicians such as Alencar 7 Cordas, taking lessons also with forró accordionists Camarão, and Arlindo dos Oito Baixos, and has performed with forró accordion master Dominguinhos. Time Out New York said, "Forró...is fast becoming the city's coolest new flavor. Accordionist Rob Curto is one of the cats responsible for its sudden jump in local popularity."

In addition to his work with Forró For All, Rob Curto tours and records with world music artists such as Mexican singer Lila Downs and klezmer artist David Krakauer, and recently recorded on the latest CD release by master Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista.

Participating in the 2006 tour is Dudu Maia, from Brazil ’s capitol:Brasília, a virtuoso bandolim (ten-stringed mandolin) player, and a bandolim professor at the prestigious Escola Brasileira de Choro Raphael Rabello. Also participating in the Fall 2006 tour of Rob Curto’s Forró For All are: vocalist and percussionist from Brasília, George Lacerda, noted New York world music drummer, Todd Isler, and, Kansas City-native, bassist Solomon Dorsey.

Rob Curto’s Forró For All will be touring the U.S. and Canada in Fall 2006, performing at prestigious venues such as: the Chicago World Music Festival, the Madison World Music Festival in Madison, Wisconsin, the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival in Bloomington, Indiana, and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Their performances in Canada include: Carrefour mondial de l’accordeón (International Accordion Festival) in Montmagny, Québec, Club Balattou (presented by Nuits d’Afrique Productions) in Montreal , Art Station in Mont Saint-Hilaire, Québec, and Lula Lounge in Toronto.Their website is: www.forroforall.com.