Creating euphoric, hypnotic music that lures people onto the dance floor, Bichos Vivos breathes life into every party while paying homage to the musical traditions of Northeastern Brazil. After years of sharing their passion for forró music with Athens, Bichos Vivos recently ventured all the way to Brazil with the intentions of not only performing in front of Brazilian audiences, but creating lasting connections that can be built upon for years to come.
For the uninitiated, forró is a popular genre of music and dance in Northeastern Brazil that is essential to the region’s cultural identity. This musical style is traditionally identified as having a base featuring an accordion that plays melodies alongside a rhythm section consisting of a metal triangle that keeps an ongoing pulse and a zabumba (large bass drum) that plays syncopated rhythms. Igniting dancehalls far and wide with its lively rhythm, forró also refers to the events at which the music is played—here, the music and the party itself are virtually synonymous.
The origin of Bichos Vivos dates back to the North Georgia Folk Festival in 2017, when founding member Tony Oscar joined Klezmer Local 42 onstage to play percussion. Following the set, he approached the band’s accordion player, Philip Kohnen, to ask if he might be interested in playing forró music together. After putting a zabumba that had been mailed to him from Sao Paulo into the hands of Todd Mueller, who quickly took a liking to the instrument, Oscar knew he was on his way to establishing Georgia’s first forró band.
With the essential accordion-triangle-zabumba trio finally falling into place, Oscar still needed someone who could sing in Portuguese, so he reached out to Robert Moser, an associate professor of Portuguese, Brazilian, and Lusophone African Literature and Culture at UGA. Rounded out by Lucas Tavares McAuliffe on guitar and William Freeman Leverett on bass, the band was finally ready to play its first gig at Cali N Tito’s on the Eastside in October of 2018.
Since then, the band’s contagious, joyful energy has attracted the additional talents of Natalie Smith on flute and percussion, Keiko Ishibashi on violin and Nicholas Wiles on percussion.
“The band’s goal was very simple,” says Oscar. “Because the audience wouldn’t understand the lyrics, we had to make them dance!”
Crafting a new style of their own, Bichos Vivos fuses elements of genres from Northeastern Brazil such as forró, baião, xaxado, frevo—as well as broader styles like bossa nova and música popular brasileira—with influences from folk and pop music of the U.S. Simply put, the band creates music designed to get people swaying their hips and clapping their hands, as demonstrated at their previous long-running monthly residency at Hendershot’s.
In June, Bichos Vivos achieved one of its biggest dreams: to travel to Brazil. What at first felt like a faraway fantasy began to take shape when the band, after a successful and very active year, began discussing the trip in realistic terms. Leaning on the help of friends who connected them with a tour manager, they began to create an itinerary and get airfare and lodging locked into place.
“The trip to Brazil was somewhat of an urban legend within the band, like a prophecy that we never believed would come to fruition,” says Kohnen.
Bichos Vivos’ travels to Brazil’s Nordeste were centered around Festa de São João, also known as Festa Junina, an annual celebration adapted from European Midsummer that celebrates rural life through dancing, music and food. Their route took them through a variety of small rural towns and larger cities—Gravatá, Caruaru, Bezerros, João Pessoa, Serra da Raiz, Recife, Olinda—revealing a spectrum of gorgeous landscapes, art forms, historical landmarks and cultural traditions.
“The experience of taking the band to Brazil was not only a dream come true but an experience that none of us will ever forget,” says Oscar. “Amazing in every aspect. When we played the last note of the first song in front of a packed house in the state of Paraiba and heard the crowd’s reaction, that was gratifying. It was such a lift.”
Though initially experiencing some apprehension about how the band’s authenticity might be perceived, Bichos Vivos was relieved to be warmly and uniformly embraced by audiences.
“In Athens, there’s a novelty aspect in hearing forró,” says McAuliffe. “In Brazil, however, forró is a very traditional style. The novelty is seeing North Americans playing it… People often got emotional, seeing a band from outside Brazil paying homage to their traditions. Lots of phones went up when we started singing, and there were many teary eyes in the audience after our shows.”
The band’s travels were documented in great detail through “Tour Diary: Bichos Vivos’ Brazilian Odyssey,” an on-the-road journal published by Flagpole that included photos, videos and reflections written by Kohnen and Smith. Their escapades were also captured by filmmaker Erica McCarthy (Damn Good Dog, The Beach Lady) of Nowhere Productions, an Austin, TX and Athens-based production company. Traveling alongside the band, McCarthy kept her camera rolling through a variety of performances, cultural experiences and behind-the-scenes memories, and plans to edit the footage into a documentary style film.
“Believe it or not, the Brazilian crowds basically did the same thing as our crowds in the States,” says Kohnen. “They danced, started conga lines, and had a lot of fun. We were surprised to have such a warm reception from Brazilians. Knowing that we were a proverbial fish out of water, we expected some hesitance or rejection. Neither ever materialized, and instead we were made to feel at home and included at every venue.”
Bichos Vivos will perform at Hendershot’s on Friday, Aug. 30 at 8 p.m., then again at Historic Athens Porchfest on Sunday, Oct. 20. Looking towards the future, the band hopes to continue expanding their reach beyond Georgia’s borders, maybe even one day taking their American twist on Brazilian music to Europe or Asia.
“Playing the gigs in Brazil was just as incredible as our gigs in Athens because music is the most international and frontierless language in the world,” says Oscar. “After all members get over the cultural hangover we will work on new material and hopefully continue to do what we love the most: make people happy through music.”
WHO: Bichos Vivos
WHEN: Friday, Aug. 30, 8 p.m.
WHERE: Hendershot’s
HOW MUCH: $10
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