Mastruz Com Leite

Biography

Mastruz com Leite is a band from the state of Ceará, Brazil in the northeastern part of the country. They play forró eletrônico (electronic forró), a modern style of forró that uses electronic elements such as keyboard, contrabass and electric guitar. They are responsible for a new interpretation of the traditional northeastern rhythm called forró. (forro) Their repertoir includes more than 40 albums including covers of the biggest names in Brazilian music ( mpb or música popular Brasileira/po...

Mastruz com Leite is a band from the state of
Ceará, Brazil
in the northeastern part of the country. They play forró eletrônico (electronic forró), a modern style of forró that uses electronic elements such as keyboard, contrabass and electric guitar. They are responsible for a new interpretation of the traditional northeastern rhythm called forró.
(forro)
Their repertoir includes more than 40 albums including covers of the biggest names in Brazilian music (
mpb
or música popular Brasileira/popular music of Brazil). Their music is full of lyrics which portray a true to life saga of the history and emotional experience of the people of the northeast. Love, marriage, the festas (celebrations/parties), and the vaquejadas (cattle roundups that usually take place at the end of winter).
They have had a number of hits with songs like:
"O Rei do Baralho" (the deck of cards river), "Eu Preciso de Você" (I need you), "Meu Vaqueiro, Meu Peão" (my cowboy, my cow hand), and "Tatuagem" (tattoos).
The group was formed in
1990
by
Emanuel Gurgel, leader of the band
Aquarius
who saw the lack of a band in the area that played only forró music. The name comes from the name of Gurgel's handball team in college, the team itself no longer exists. Mastruz is a medicinal herb often taken in Brazil and surrounding countries with milk(leite).
Band members initially included:
accordionist
Zé Wilson
drummers
Jean
and
Marcelo
,
bass player
Bel
and singers
Japinha
and
Tony Silveira
,
this last also playing guitar.
As time went on the need arose for a feminine voice in the band. Current lineup includes
Katia Cilene
Bete Nascimento
Raynner
Neto
Initially, Mastruz com Leite only played during the breaks of Aquarius's shows. They played their first solo gig at the Mangueira Clube, in Fortaleza, capitol of the state of Ceará where they were based. Later they decided to leave the capitol for more rurral areas, mainly playing in Quixadá, Iguatú Campos Sales. The band began to feel they were on the right track and decided to spread their music throughout the northeast, making their first appearance in Araripinha in the state of Pernambuco. It was never easy, even in the northeast their particular rhythms took a while to catch on. São Paulo in the southeast was a particularly tough nut to crack. The first time they were invited to play there the concert venue that contracted them had, at the time of the concert, not a single paying attendee. The audience consisted of the waiters, the owners, and the musicians. Today Mastruz com Leite attracts more than ten thousand people to their concerts in São Paulo, capitol of São Paulo state. In 2002 after twelve years of existance they toured outside Brazil for the first time, this being a U.S. tour that covered cities such as Stanford, New York city, and Revere. Later in 2003 they toured Europe, playing in Switzerland and Portugal, and twice in Italy, taking the culture of northeast Brazil worldwide. After seventeen years they're still going strong, playing their lively brand of forró. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.