Hora de Folga

Hora de Folga formed in the 1980s in Senhor do Bonfim, Bahia, a town in Brazil's sertão region. The musicians came together with a shared background in the traditional rhythms of that area, though they weren't strictly purists about it. Their first album was called 'Voz do Sertão' in 1993, which gave them a name for writing about life in that landscape.

Their songs like 'Voz do Sertão' and 'Coração Sertanejo' dealt plainly with the social and economic realities of the sertão, which wasn't always comfortable listening. The lyrics had a directness that could feel raw or satirical depending on the track, and that approach drew attention both from listeners who recognized their own experiences and from critics who debated what they were hearing.

They kept recording after that first album, working within a folk-infused style that didn't always fit what was mainstream at the time. The music stayed grounded in where they came from, even as they found listeners outside the sertão itself.