Xaxado

Xaxado is a dance and song rhythm from Brazil's sertão, inseparable from the cangaço: the outlaw bands of Lampião danced it in the 1920s and 1930s, rifles on their shoulders, sliding their sandalled feet through the caatinga dust — xaxar, to shuffle or weed. Performed by the baião ensemble of accordion, zabumba and triangle, its dragging, syncopated beat underpins sung corridos narrating cangaceiro deeds. Carried to the cities by *Luiz Gonzaga* and by *Marinês*, the 'queen of xaxado', it survives as one of the core rhythms of forró alongside baião and xote.