Mastruz com Leite

Mastruz com Leite performing in Caetité, Bahia, in 2001.
Image: André Koehne. CC BY 3.0. Source.

Summary

Mastruz com Leite is a Ceará band central to the development of Forró eletrônico. Its large-ensemble sound and Northeastern repertoire helped establish a modern band lineage that predates the recent piseiro wave.

History

The group's early recordings include Arroxá o Nó and Só pra Chamegar, the latter featuring 'Meu Vaqueiro, Meu Peão'. Its catalogue expanded rapidly during the 1990s. The recording, radio and touring networks around such bands form an important part of the history of Contemporary Forró.

Music and repertoire

Electric rhythm instruments, accordion, saxophone and multiple singers broadened the available arrangement palette. Rural subjects and older repertoire remained important within that modern sound. Tribute records devoted to Luiz Gonzaga and Jackson do Pandeiro make the connection especially clear: electronic band performance and inherited repertoire are not opposites.

Members and collaborators

The band's history includes singers Kátia Cilene, Bete Nascimento and Aduílio Mendes among a changing ensemble. Personnel should be matched to a particular period or recording. The group is not interchangeable with any one former singer, and its role in modern forró includes the work of instrumentalists, composers and production networks.