Baião

Baião is a Brazilian folk dance and musical genre from the Northeast, or sertão, codified in the 1940s by the accordionist *Luiz Gonzaga*, the 'King of Baião'. Played in 2/4 time by a trio of accordion, zabumba bass drum and triangle, often with agogô and guitar, its syncopated rhythmic cell underpins the wider forró repertoire. *Gonzaga*'s songs, many written with *Humberto Teixeira* and *Zé Dantas*, carried Northeastern themes of drought, migration and faith to national audiences and made baião a foundational rhythm of Brazilian popular music.