You're correct, Glenn... Vallenato definitely gets close with the rubboard. One of my favorite Vallenato artists is Carlos Vives. He's the Keith Frank of Vallenato, a real pioneer with a modern flair. I've noticed rubboard in merengue music -- some of the more traditional Dominican bands. As far a "triangulation" goes, in Trinidad, a small piece of iron is hit to turn up the heat in soca music, known as playing the iron, i.e., "gimme de i-on." Its percussive ring sounds very similar to the triangle.

Your world music maven,

R!CK

Forro--the accordion dance music native to Brazil, uses a drum, a triangle, and an accordion as the heart of the style. In fact, trios like this still exist to this day and record music and play for dancers as a trio...just a drum, tiangle and accordion. The triangle is used just like in Cajun music with the alternating of muffled and ringing strokes...unmuted strokes on the 2s and 4s (backbeats) of the music.

NY Times has an article on Forro music in Brazil (link attached) which includes a multimedia section with music and narration. The scene (rural clubs, dances at the ranch), the dance style, and the instruments are reminiscent of SW Louisiana.

That's a cool link, Russ! Amazing the parallels in cultures that have found the celebration of life gathered around a button accordion.

I've been a fan of Forro (the music of Brazilian maids and taxi drivers) since David Byrne started poking around in Afro-Brazilian folk music back in the late 80's -- releasing compilations of the stuff. Back then, it was easier to find a decent selection of Forro at the local Border's and Barnes & Noble... but now? Shoot... good luck.

What's worse is here in Dallas (a big city, mind you) the Virgin Megastore closed doors a few months ago, and just last week, Tower Records announced they were pulling out of the local market. Either the mp3 download craze has wiped them out or Dallas only cares about country and blues. Prolly a bit o' both, but it sure has put a monkeywrench in shopping for world accordion music.

Glad to know this forum includes Vallenato and Forro fans. As talented and diverse as Chris Miller is, perhaps he'll work in a little of that flava to sava on one of his future CDs! ;) [wink-wink-nudge-nudge] That would be cooler than cool!

It's just a diatonic thang, y'all... and a cool one at dat!

R!CK

It is amazing how many parallels there are between the Forro and zydeco scenes.

I'm a fan of all kinds of diatonic accordion music. Planet Squeezebox is one of my favorite collections.

Check out Joel Guzman on the triple row playing a cumbia (what a killer groove) and blues, with just an acoustic guitar. Chad Huval, Jesse Lege's guitarist, and a monster Cajun accordion player in his own right, turned me on to these Guzman YouTube clips.