Vous allez danser à leur écoute ! Mêlée de folk brésilien, la musique festive de Forro in the Dark booste assurément le moral. Basés à New York, nos quatre Brésiliens ont adapté leurs tonalités revigorantes à la Grosse Pomme (mais aussi au reste du monde et au 21e siècle). Ils ont été aidés en cela par David Byrne, qui a également prêté sa voix à l’un de leurs titres, et Bebel Gilberto, avec qui ils ont déjà eu l’occasion de tourner. Un nouvel album est annoncé, d’ici la fin de l’année, chez Rough Trade. Et tant qu’à écrire en anglais, profitons-en pour reprendre leurs propres mots :

'Picture this: it's an exceptionally hot, muggy night in the heart of Northeast Brazil. While the ambient forest and wildlife sounds engulf most of the region, a bright rhythmic pulse beats out of a large, illuminated dance club. A sweaty group of men and women, who should be exhausted after a long week's work, dance exuberantly pelvis-to-pelvis in a waltz-meets-salsa like motion to a colorful vibrant band effortlessly performing a style of music centered around the bass-like thump of a zabumba, the awkward wail of an accordion and a large metal triangle rattled so quickly, you'd think the musician was having a seizure.

Well ok, Forro in the Dark is not quite that type of traditional forro band, instead they are bringing an updated style of the music to the hipsters and club-goers of NYC, but the sweaty, excitable vibe is still undeniable. Supplementing the traditional instrumentation with electric guitars, an array of flutes, modern percussion and other contemporary instruments, along with the help of David Byrne, Bebel Gilberto and Miho Hatori, Forro in the Dark capture the immediate, pleasure-craving core of forro for modern audiences to relieve their stress on the dance floor just like the Brazilian workers of the early 1900s.

Forro in the Dark is Mauro Refosco on Zabumba and Vocals; Gilmar Gomes on Percussion and Vocals; Davi Vieira on Percussion and Vocals; Guilherme Monteiro on Guitar and Vocals; Jorge Continentino on Pifano, Baritone Sax and Vocals; and Smokey Hormel on Baritone Guitar, Slide Guitar and Vocals.'

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Abandoning the accordion, they've added Jorge's pifano, a wooden flute from the Northeast of Brazil, Guilherme's twangy guitar, and Davi's timbau, a Bahian drum. The new additions float between the beat of Mauro's zabumba, a drum with both snare and bass pitches, and the tweet of Davi's triangle.