Some new quotes...

I spoke a bit with a guitar player who plays in forró and other bands and he said something that I thought was interesting. He had lived in Germany for a couple years and was quite excited to hear that I was living in Holland. He talked about the differences between Europe and Brazil musically and socially and made this comment: "In Europe it´s accepted to play music in the street. You know those guys the play in front of bars for tips. But not here. Only 'vagabundos' (bums, lower class musicians) do this here, it´s not something a quality musician would do."
I was reading the biography of Luiz Gonzaga (the King of forró) and came across this quote that was in a similar vein: "When I recorded Asa branca (the most famous of all his songs) there was a joke made in bad taste. Canhoto, the guitar player... that accompanied me since the days of Mangue (where he played in the street for tips). So, he grabbed a hat and went around the group passing it among the players for them to put money into it, immitating me."

I interviewed a 29 year old woman who is a great fan of forró and who frequently attends dances and she had a couple interesting things to say. "Luiz Gonzaga, for me, never died. If you go to a forró today you´ll see that 80% of the songs played are from him.
"I dance forró because I like it, because it´s who I am, a Northeasterner. It´s my culture and it´s my people. "
"Forró is definitely increasing, yeah. In the past here in Olinda it was more a thing of São João (June Festivals). It the interior of the state it´s always been popular, doesn´t matter what time of year it is. But now you can find it here (in the city) the year round. It´s something for every soical class. It´s not just something for the poor. The public is really varied. It depends on where you go to see it. There are some places that have only 'matutos' (people from the interior), some for workers, some for university students, and so on."

I also went to the Joaquim Nabuco institute (a famous research institute here in Recife) and was denied entrance to the social science department because I was wearing shorts (where the hell do they think we are, England?) Next time I´ll bring some pants in my backpack, as there is no way I´m taking a sweaty hour bus ride out there in pants! But interestingly enough the people in the Sound Recording department didn´t have a problem with my shorts and were quite helpful. I´m definitely going back this week to talk to the radio announcer who works there who was really helpful, giving me tons of newspaper articles about forró to look through. He had many interesting comments about the trajectory of forró and right now I´ll just include one that he made in reference to how forró has recently gained in popularity among the younger generation: "The old turns itself into the kid again in the conception of the young people. It´s a re-encounter with the past."

Time to eat some lunch, I´ll post again soon!!!