Frevo

Press "Play" below to hear A Banda play the Frevo numbers "Onde está dinheiro" and "Vassourinhas":

Frevo is dance-driven march played in a very fast, binary tempo. A derivation of martial polka, it used to be called "northeastern martial music" or "martial music from Pernambuco" in the early days, when capoeira (a type of dance-fight, early break dance, currently played as a game and accompanied by African drums and berimabau - a single string attached to a bamboo stick) dancers led their groups on parades. The bouncing dance steps, which bore a strong resemblance to Russian folk dances, imprinted the specific frevo steps. The colorful parasols carried by frevo dancers represent defense weapons.