From rootnode.com:
This is a music and dance from the North East of
Brazil. It's almost like thier country music - usually sparse with a drum called a
zabumba, a triangle, sometimes a guitar, a singer, and an
accordian.
The dance had a revival in Rio and Sao Paulo where it changed a bit.
Originally, the name comes from US servicemen that had dances. Some were private and some where "For all". But if you are a Brazilian, that's pronounced "FoH-ho" or something like that and it turned into Forro' (where again the "rr" is like an "h"-sound).
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From kennedy-center.org
"...a style of Brazilian dance music that is built around a trio of accordion, triangle and zabumba (a small bass drum with a huge sound). The relentless driving rhythms of the accordion, much like
Zydeco, combine with distinctly Brazilian melodies. Often humorous, these are songs about life in the rugged, dry and unforgiving landscape of northern Brazil. This is party music for hard working people who would gather together at night for a 'forro,' where they could drink and dance and forget their troubles."
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From slipcue.com
"Upbeat, super-catchy dance music from the Northeast of Brazil. Forro usually features an accordion, with fast, syncopated rhythms similar to samba. In some ways, forro is analagous to
mariachi in
Mexico, or cumbia music in Columbia: although a few artists (such as Luiz Gonzaga and Jackson do Pandeiro) are well-known, national stars, thousands of others have recorded for small, regional labels and much of forro is relatively informal and localized. Although it had been marginalized during the bossa nova years as a kind of hick music, the style made a comeback in the early seventies, as tropicalia artists such as Gilberto Gil and Gal Costa revived old hits and brought forro riffs into their rock-tinged albums. Revitalized, forro began to become more modern, with new stars such as Elba Ramalho who introduced
disco and pagode elements into the old back-country sound."