Trilogienhúm (a playful moment for forró trio)

Vinicius Amaro – [email protected]
  Universidade Federal da Bahia

Dedicated to Edinho de Lima, an accordionist and composer residing in Salvador (Bahia - Brazil), Trilogienhúm (a playful moment for forró trio) proposes a subtle dip in the enigmatic force of the number 3 and in the consequent representations of triads in various areas of knowledge and cultures, whether in the expression of the most holy trinity, in christianity; in the relations between earth, sun and moon, in astronomy and astrology; in the triune division of the human body (head, trunk and limbs); in the notions of spirit, soul and body, to spiritualistic traditions; or in the atomic structure, formed by protons, electrons and neutrons.

Very important for the musical culture of northeastern Brazil, the forró trio (or northeast trio), composed of accordion, zabumba and triangle, can be considered as one of these triadic puzzling combinations, and it is from this stimulus that Trilogienhúm develops its compositional discourse. In this sense, a trilogy, represented by the discursive musical impulse of each instrument involved, is counted by the whole, which is exactly the trio.

Some triadic musical relations are explored in this work, whether in the formal structure, which develops from the alternation of three kind of sections; in the free exploitation of some triadic possibilities on symmetrical scales; or in the trine administration of the temporal flow: one slightly imprecise, other strictly linear and another essentially cyclic, each one relating to the three distinct sections that tie the formal structure. Rhythmic references to musical genres traditionally associated to the northeastern trio, such as forró, baião and xote, can be perceived throughout the piece.

The premiere was played by a forró trio formed by Edinho de Lima (accordion), Érica Sá (triangle) and David Martins (zabumba), on December 16, 2015, at the ICBA Theater, in an event held by the MAB project - Musica de Agora na Bahia.