Song of the Day: Djalma Corrêa “Forró Do Rio Bonito”

The Brazilian percussionist and bassist, Djalma Corrêa, successfully blends traditional Forró music with jazz-fusion on “Forró Do Rio Bonito”. Forró is a traditional musical form from Brazil. It is a hearty, simple musical form that originated with the hardscrabble and often very poor peasant population of Brazil’s mountainous Northeast. The instrumentation is typically a small group group format consisting of a guitar, accordion and drum/ hand percussion. The rhythm of the music is also often quite simple, it has an almost punk rock rhythmic feel to it. The music has increasingly become popular throughout the rest of Brazil, which is how Corrêa can write a Forró about the coastal region of Rio Bonito (located just outside of Rio de Janeiro). Corrêa takes the basic Forró rhythm for this track but greatly expands the instrumentation: anchoring everything in a catchy baseline.

Djalma Corrêa was born in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil in 1942. He has been a fixture in the Brazilian jazz scene for decades both leading bands and serving as a capable sideman. Corrêa received his musical education in percussion from the venerable Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). Many of his music professors there were German and he has subsequently forged close ties with Germany: frequently playing there and creating an annual musical festival bringing together the best jazz talent that both Brazil and Germany have to offer.