CITYFOLK MONTHLY - April 2007

The accordion has gotten a bum rap. The butt of more jokes than any other musical instrument, including the banjo, the accordion has a pretty lame image in U.S. popular culture. Call it the Curse of Myron Floren.

In fact, however, the accordion—here you see two- and three-row button accordions, concertinas and a piano accordion—is an incredibly hip and versatile instrument found at the heart of dozens of cool styles of music from around the world, including zydeco, norteño, tango, Colombian vallenato, French musette, Cajun, Celtic, Dominican merengue and, coming soon to a Cityfolk Festival stage near you, forró, the traditional dance music of northeastern Brazil.

Traditional forró, known as forró pé de serra, is played on just three instruments: the piano accordion, a metal triangle (similar to but larger, louder and more central to the music than the triangle in Cajun music) and a large bass drum called the zabumba, played with a mallet in one hand and a stick called a bacalhau in the other. The melody is played by the accordion, with the drum and triangle pounding out a surprisingly complex and funky polyrhythmic beat.

Forró emerged as a distinct style of dance music in the late 1800s, about the time Brazil—the largest and most populous country in South America—was in the process of becoming a republic. Forró, a name which refers both to a dance and to the accompanying music, is an energetic blend of Afro-Brazilian percussion and European dance music of the late 1800s, specifically the polkas, waltzes and mazurkas that constituted the primary accordion repertoire at the time.

Forró developed in the northeastern part of Brazil, the most Africanized region of the country. Most of the African slaves the Portuguese brought into Brazil worked the huge plantations along the Atlantic coast, and many of the descendants of those slaves have remained in the general area. Relegated to less desirable land a few miles inland, large numbers of the nordestinos (northeasterners) live in an arid, rocky region known as the sertão.

Life there is hardscrabble and unforgiving. Forró began the evolution from regional style to national obsession as nordestinos gave up on farming and moved to an even more uncertain life in the coastal cities such as Recife and Salvador and, farther south, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The harshness of life on the sertão is indicated by the name given to those who pack it in for the cities—flagelados, the scourged.

The nationalization of forró was completed by accordionist Luiz Gonzaga (1912-1989), who reinvigorated the traditional folk style and turned forró into a national craze that has influenced all subsequent Brazilian music. Born in northeastern Brazil into a forró-playing family, Gonzaga began his professional career in Rio de Janeiro, playing dance music in bars and on the streets. Gonzaga’s ascent to stardom began when he started playing forró for the many nordestino émigrés in Rio, relieving their homesickness for the northeast.

Gonzaga was soon making records and he was a top-selling artist through the 1940s and 1950s who was “rediscovered” in the 1970s. He performed in traditional costume and became an advocate and spokesman of sorts for the displaced nordestinos. His most famous song and biggest hit was “Asa Branca” (recorded in 1947), a sad song about a farmer forced to move to the city. The song was a regional anthem in the northeast and is now a standard in Brazilian music.

One of the biggest stars in Brazilian music history, Gonzaga influenced a number of musicians who became huge stars and influences themselves—Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Egberto Gismonti, Milton Nascimento among others—as well as many important northeastern musicians, including Elba Ramalho, Dominguinhos, Morães Moreira, Geraldo Azevedo and his own son, Gonzaghuino.

Forró includes both accordion-led instrumentals and songs. Like vernacular music the world over, the subject matter of many forró songs is love, in all of its many manifestations—lost, found, unrequited, unforgettable, passion, jealousy and so on. Songs that aren’t about love mainly address the more serious concerns of the nordestinos—alienation, cultural dislocation, racial prejudice and a longing sense of nostalgia. Most of the songs are sung in Portuguese.

There are three or four competing theories about the origin of the word forró. The most convincing is that forró is a derivative of forrobodó, an Afro-Brazilian word meaning “great party” or “commotion.” Another theory holds that forró is a corruption of “for all” and dates from the early 1900s, when the railroad companies would throw big dances on the weekend and designate them as either “employees only” or open to the general populace, “for all.” At the very least, that theory helps explain the name and philosophy of a great dance band making its Dayton debut this summer.

The exciting new band Forró For All, founded by New York accordion virtuoso Rob Curto, brings the highly enjoyable sounds of modern forró to the Cityfolk Festival stage. The Brazilian-American ensemble uses the three traditional instruments of forró, as well as electric bass, the four-string cavaquinho, various percussion instruments and violin to create a jazz-inflected take on the traditional style that has created quite a buzz in world music circles. The New York-based band has performed at major world music and accordion festivals throughout the world and released its debut CD, Forró For All, in 2006 to widespread critical and fan acclaim.

Sampler CDs containing the music of several different artists can provide a quick and easy introduction to an unfamiliar style of music like, say, forró. A few good places to start are Brazil Classics, Vol. 3: Forro, Etc. (Luaka Bop), which includes cuts by Luiz Gonzaga, Gonzaghuino, Elba Ramalho, Dominguinhos and others; Brazil Forró: Music for Maids and Taxi Drivers (Rounder); and Maxximum: O Melhor Do Forró (Sony/BMG).

Guitarist Randy Vidrine grew up in a bilingual household in Ville Platte, Louisiana. Thanks to that upbringing, he writes and sings Cajun songs equally well in French and English. The lyrics of many of his songs reflect the experiences of modern life, without losing the true sound of authentic Cajun music. He has served as a staff member at the Ashokan Fiddle and Dance Camp in upstate New York, Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, WA, & Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, WV, to name a few.

Vidrine will take the stage with the Lafayette Rhythm Devils at this summer's Cityfolk Festival. He's a Cityfolk Festival veteran, having played here a few years back with the Cajun band Charivari.

RECORDINGS I'M LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW: South of Muskogee Town by Greg Jacobs

LAST THREE BOOKS I'VE READ: The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown, Intensity by Dean Koontz, Monster by Jonathan Kellerman

FAVORITE LIVE MUSIC EXPERIENCE (in the audience): Clifton Chenier at either LSU Ballroom or LSU - Eunice Student Center

FAVORITE LIVE MUSIC EXPERIENCE (on stage): Any of the late night dances I have played at the Wheatland Music Festival in Remus, Michigan

WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT MAKING MY LIVING AS A MUSICIAN: The travel adventure and making friends with different musicians and fans

FAVORITE PASSTIMES: College football, traveling and raising rabbits when at home

DREAM VACATION: An extended trip to England to visit friends, Ireland for the pubs and the Guinness, and Italy for the food.

MATERIAL CULTURE KEY INGREDIENTS: E.A.T. Food for Life

One of the participants in Key Ingredients at the 2007 Cityfolk festival is E.A.T. Food for Life, a 140-acre certified organic farm located in northern Darke County. The mission of Dan Kremer, his wife Nancy and their four children is to grow and distribute safe, nutritious foods that nourish, protect and support life for improved health and energy. Their products and services are designed to help people discover and experience the connection between quality of food and quality of life.

The farm, once called Kremer Farms, was owned and operated by Dan’s grandfather Bernard Kremer and then by his father Carl. The two-story brick farmhouse they live in was built in 1868 and has a foundation of stones that were gathered from the farmland itself. In 1998, health complications from hemophelia compelled the Kremers to move back to the family farm, restore the farmhouse and convert the farm to an organic operation. They sell organic beef, poultry, lamb, pork and buffalo as well as various grains and vegetables at a store near their farm and at the Second Street Public Market in downtown Dayton.

E.A.T. Food for Life is certified organic, which means that they avoid synthetic chemical inputs such as fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics, and food additives; they avoid genetically modified organisms; their farmland has been free from chemicals for a number of years; they keep detailed written production and sales records; and they maintain strict physical separation of organic products from non-certified products. They keep this certification in place by undergoing periodic on-site inspections.

The Kremers also offer live blood analysis using Darkfield Microscopy to help people understand the causes of their health imbalances based on “empty” food choices. Clean blood facilitates the delivery of nutrients and the removal of waste at the cellular level thereby preventing illness and enhancing wellness. Most of us are experiencing less than ideal health in our families and desire more physical and mental energy. Indications related to the causes of health imbalances are clearly demonstrated when analyzing the blood, allowing one to objectively see the truth about the health of our cells. Often people are anxious about knowing their true state of health because it means making diet and lifestyle changes. If you are ready to support change for the better, this is for you.They will be offering this analysis to festivalgoers in Key Ingredients.

PROFILE BEHIND THE SCENES: Dave Barber

St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, was just another day in the life of Dave Barber, arts marketer. The good news: his favorite band, Los Lobos, was performing a special acoustic show for Cityfolk that night. The bad news: the band arrived that afternoon, but their instruments didn’t, lost somewhere in airline purgatory. While others might panic in such a circumstance, Barber, Holly Underwood, John Harris and the rest of the Cityfolk crew did what they’ve done so many times before—pulled great art out of a less-than-ideal situation. Los Lobos rocked the house and the crowd went home happy.

A Dayton native, Barber graduated from Vandalia Butler High School back when the Rolling Stones were still threatening. He started his college career at Ohio University in Athens and, a few years later, graduated from Antioch College with a degree in Communication Arts.

Dave got his start with Cityfolk, coordinating the organization’s Jazz Tradition Series in 1986 with a community-based volunteer committee. Cityfolk Executive Director John Harris refers to Barber as an “encyclopedia of American popular music,” but jazz is the music closest to Barber’s heart, and it is through jazz that Barber has made his greatest contribution to the cultural life of southwestern Ohio. (Dave is shown here with NEA JazzMaster Jon Hendricks at the 2004 Cityfolk Festival. Photo by Andy Snow.)

Through thoughtful and imaginative programming, concert production, film showings, educational residencies with jazz musicians in local schools, a summer teacher workshop called “Jazz Across the Curriculum” and his championing of Dayton’s jazz greats Norris Turney and Booty Wood, Barber has been a vital part of the jazz infrastructure in this entire region.

According to Cityfolk founder Phyllis Brzozowska, the key to Barber’s success with jazz was that he combined “his impeccable good taste with his intense passion for jazz and created a program that is the envy of cities far larger and more glamorous than Dayton. Daytonians who have followed Cityfolk’s jazz series have gotten an unparalleled education in jazz masters, regional jazz trends and up and coming jazz masters-to-be. Local jazz musicians have been tutored by some of the most accomplished practitioners in the world—and been shown that great art can flourish anywhere there is belief that it can.”

In addition to his day job at Cityfolk, Barber has been active in music advocacy and education on the regional and national levels over the past two decades. He oversaw Cityfolk's participation in the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest National Jazz Network and later Doris Duke Charitable Foundation-funded JazzNet program. He has also taken part in workshops and forums on presenting for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, the Southern Arts Federation, Arts Midwest and the International Association of Jazz Educators.

“Dave Barber is Dayton’s cultural treasure,” says Fred Bartenstein, bluegrass historian and radio producer. “Rarely does one person have such broad knowledge of genres and impeccable taste in all of them—jazz, blues, bluegrass, folk, world music, country, alternative rock and more. Dave is a one-stop for information, ideas and musical revitalization…I can’t imagine Dayton cultural life or Cityfolk without him.”

Bluegrass is another style of “non-commercial” music that has benefited from Dave’s advocacy. He’s a knowledgeable fan who has listened to his share of Red Allen and Buzz Busby records over the past three decades and that has shown in his bluegrass programming. Dave and Cityfolk have covered the gamut, from such established icons as Ralph Stanley and Larry Sparks to exciting new acts like King Wilkie, and had a hand in the production of two of the most noteworthy and historically significant multi-artist concerts in Dayton bluegrass history—the Dayton Bluegrass Reunion in 1989 and Earl Scruggs: Family and Friends in 2002.

Radio has been a more or less constant thread throughout Dave’s involvement with Cityfolk. He hit the Dayton airwaves in 1977, if memory serves, as part of WYSO’s powerhouse Tuesday morning line-up, with a program called “Smack Dab in the Middle” that aired from 9 - 11. After a few months of playing everyone from Django Reinhardt to Lightnin’ Hopkins to Louis Armstrong, he was rewarded with a Wednesday night time slot, where he concentrated more specifically on jazz for another 23 years. Barber’s back on WYSO again, after a hiatus of a few years. He and long-time friend Steve Schwerner also produce programs for WDPS-FM (the Dayton Public Schools station).

“Aside from his knowledge of music, Dave’s ability to juggle his many roles with Cityfolk is amazing,” says John Harris. “In addition to his job as program director, he’s the director of marketing, director of education, van driver, artist host, and senior advisor to the director. Incredibly, he does each of these jobs extremely well. After 20 years, Dave carries the institutional memory of the organization, which provides continuity to what we do that I think is very important. His desire to bring the very best of the music he loves to the people of Dayton sets him apart from anyone I can imagine.”

“What I so admire and appreciate about Dave,” Phyllis Brzozowska says, “is his unwavering dedication to quality and unending and abiding good taste. When I left Cityfolk to go off and find new adventures, I left completely confident that, as long as Dave Barber was there, the artistic vision and integrity of the organization would remain intact and continue to grow. I believe that it’s a lot easier to start an organization than it is to carry it on, nurture it and keep the growth and vitality strong through the ups and downs of life’s constant changes. Cityfolk would not have flourished as it has without Dave’s constancy, and for that, I will remain eternally grateful.”

Finally, a personal disclaimer: I met Dave Barber 30 years ago when he started volunteering at WYSO. We hit it off, bonding over such shared interests as literature, baseball, progressive politics and humor, and have been friends ever since. He was the best man at my wedding in 1996. Though I now live a couple thousand miles west of Dayton, writing for Cityfolk (and serving as its under-assistant west coast promo man) allows me to stay involved with a very special organization.

Whenever I describe some Cityfolk assignment I’m currently writing, my wife always says, “Those people in Dayton are really lucky.” She’s right, and Cityfolk is a big part of that. I’ve lived in six states, in huge cities and tiny towns, and I’ve never encountered the like of Cityfolk anywhere else. You folks are lucky to have Cityfolk—and Cityfolk is lucky to have Dave Barber. Congratulations on your first 20 years, old friend, and thanks for a job well done.

In the no-longer-new millennium it’s getting harder to find original sounds in jazz. In a supply line of guitarists crowding the jazz market—widely thought to be around 3% of overall music—one musician has stood out since his arrival over twenty years ago. Built on quiet, thoughtful nuance rather than blazing single note runs, Bill Frisell’s music continues to defy category and convention. (Photo by Jimmy Katz.)

When you listen to Frisell, you hear a singularly conceived sound crafted from a vast dreamscape of influences. Aaron Copland, folk and country music, African, film music, blues, Brazilian and American pop songs are just some of the elements the guitarist has utilized to forge a musical vision as accessible as it is avant-garde.

Two recent records remind listeners how utterly unique his conception is and that jazz is, thankfully, not always about extended improvisation. For Frisell, it’s the songs that matter. And whether you are hearing him retool the contours of a tune you thought you knew, unveiling one of his own tenderly-wrought compositions or interpreting someone else’s material, sitting down with a Frisell CD is an adventure in the pure joy of listening.

Enlisting bassist Ron Carter and drummer Paul Motian on his recent trio record from Nonesuch, Frisell gives the country standards “Pretty Polly” and “You Are My Sunshine” a dreamy, off-kilter sadness, loads Carter’s stuttering “Eighty-One” with a barrelful of sly riffs, and builds a backdrop of gloomy noir for his own “Worse and Worse”.

Motian’s long-running trio with Frisell and saxophonist Joe Lovano offers a more meditative experience. The new ECM release Time and Time Again, showcases the drummers own compositions, and one each from Lovano, Richard Rodgers and Thelonious Monk. Motian’s haunting “Cambodia”, provides an ideal canvas for his cinematic bag of sounds and effects, creating pure atmosphere in a way very few musicians can.

After collaborations with Elvis Costello, the members of Alison Krauss’ Union Station, various film projects etc., Frisell has now crossed over beyond the giant guitar cult to the world at large. His work is as compelling as any in improvised music today.

From time to time, stories on NPR, in the New York Times and in other places catch the eye (or ear) of the Cityfolk staff. These are stories about traditional music, handicrafts, ways of life...stories that deepen our understanding and appreciation for the folkways of the world. We will keep bringing as much of this to Dayton as we can; in the meantime, take a listen to this:

If you find a story that you'd like to share with other Cityfolk ENews readers, please send us the link and we'll put it the hopper for possible inclusion.

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