SpokFrevo Orquestra: “Spokiando”
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It’s not every day that KUT’s Studio 1A hosts a 17-piece band. Actually, the studio has never hosted such a large ensemble, but we were more than willing to accommodate SpokFrevo Orquestra, a Brazilian outfit that has become a hit in its native country with its own brand of big band jazz.
The group originated as an idea from bandleader Inaldo Cavalcante de Albuquerque, better known as Maestro Spok (a name he got from–you guessed it–a childhood love of Star Trek). He’s one of the premier composers of frevo, a subgenre of Brazilian jazz. Historians have traced frevo’s roots to 19th-century Brazilian marching bands who performed in the city of Recife during Carnival. Their sound eventually morphed into dancing music, and the word “frevo” comes from the Portuguese word for “boiling.”
In 1996, Maestro Spok formed a band called Banda Pernambucana, and after several name and line-up changes, it transformed into SpokFrevo Orquestra eight years later. Since the release of their debut album, Passo de Anjo (“Angel Dance”), they’ve toured the world over, bringing with them the history of frevo music but adding a modern twist. “Spokiando” is a nice introduction to that sound, and today’s version was caught live in Studio 1A. With the boiling heat right around the corner, it’s the perfect song to welcome the summer.
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