Forro in the Dark's Bonfires of São João

Our friend Mauro Refosco's band Forró In The Dark was the featured performance at the first 3quarksdaily ball. We were honored and completely entertained. (Those of you who didn't go see their shows at Nublu, all I can say is you missed out and should catch the next ones.) Their new album Bonfires of São João is out, and the Village Voice has a review of it. (Via David Byrne.)

The crack squad of sidemen, led by percussionist Mauro Refosco, seem poised to launch what could well become North America's Next Big Brazilian Thing: forró (pronounced fo-ho), the party music of northeastern Brazil, a style fathered by singer-accordionist Luiz Gonzaga. Bonfires is a blast, a pitch-perfect reenactment of FITD's live energy that succeeds in conveying the exuberance and nostalgic spirit of traditional forró while imbuing it with a definite New York vibe, no doubt helped by its art-school-friendly guest vocalists: David Byrne on the woeful Gonzaga classic "Asa Branca," Bebel Gilberto on the bossa nova–smooth "Wandering Swallow," and Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori on the Nipponized and maddeningly catchy (just try and get it out of your head) "Paraíba."

David Byrne has an entry in his journal of the on the album and its release.