A man from Belém in the northern state of Pará who made a name for himself by breaking into the southern music scene in Rio... After releasing his debut album, *Forró con Ary Lobo*, in 1958, he contributed to as many as 700 songs, achieving unprecedented fame for a Black man from the north. In 1966, he released *Quem É O Campeão? (Who’s the Champion?—this title is also great), he released an album every year on RCA. As the popularity of forró declined in the ’60s, he lost work and passed away in Fortaleza in 1980.
Anyway, this is the rhythm of music from Brazil’s Northeast—the Nordeste. I first discovered it in the 2000s through compilations by Makoto Kubota, but since there aren’t any readily available compilations these days, why not start with this one? There are some great tracks in the middle and latter half of the album. Wonderful… (Original Japanese text by Shhhhh)