Forro Porro
Album: North By North East
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.myspace.com/forroporro

Forro Porro are a duo of Hull based duos. The Hut People (Gary Hammond & Sam Pirt) and Mambo Jambo (Frankie Banham & Pete Jack) who between them play a huge range of instruments including accordion, zabumba and timbal drums, cavaquinho, guitar, triangle, berimbau, flute, sax and clarinet. All four members of the band contribute vocals with Frankie and Pete taking the lead on individual tracks.

I have seen both duos in action a number of times and can attest to their originality and skill in live performance, with the Hut People being one of my must see artists at the Musicport festival as reported earlier this year. I have only caught the Forro Porro line up once however and, although it was definitely an enjoyable experience, it didn't seem to quite equate to the sum of its parts. This CD similarly is an entertaining listen but one that is best experienced whilst moving around - and preferably dancing - rather than sat in the reviewers chair. This is hardly surprising as the group specialise in South American fiesta sounds - Brazilian Forró and Colombian Vallenato, Porro & Cumbia.

A few individual tracks stand out. 'Roseira da Norte' is an energetic forro tune where Sam Pirt's accordion soars and swoops to great effect. The love song 'Querubim' has a strong hop step beat that I could imagine dancing Nottingham Swing to! La Grande Fournaise, of unknown origin, starts out as a gentle accordion led waltz but around the halfway point the tune morphs into a spirited dance. Forro de dos Amigos from North East Brazil shows off Frankie's dexterity on the flute.

It must be said that the instrumental performances throughout are excellent but for me the CD is just a little lacking in variety - though I should confess that I often find this to be the case with some South American music and so it may just be me! For those who do love the music of this continent though it is certainly worth exploring Forro Porro either by buying this CD or through their MySpace page or You Tube.

Joe Grint