Graforreia Xilarmônica is a Brazilian Prêmio Açorianos-winning

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

group from

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

. Famous for their humorous, unpretentious lyrics and for their sonority influenced by 1960s-era bands, the ''

Jovem Guarda Jovem GuardaJovem Guarda translates literally as "young guard". It could be interpreted as "vanguard". was primarily a Brazilian musical television show first aired by Rede Record in 1965, although the term soon expanded to designate the entir ...

'' movement and traditional ''gaúcho'' music, they amassed a strong

cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...

throughout the 1980s and 1990s which lasts to the present day.

History

Graforreia Xilarmônica was founded in 1987 by Carlo Pianta, brothers Alexandre and Marcelo Birck, and Frank Jorge. All four had previous experiences with music: Pianta was a founding member of

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, wit ...

group DeFalla, and the Birck brothers, alongside Jorge (who was also a founding member of

Os Cascavelletes Os Cascavelletes were a Brazilian Rock music, rock group from Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. One of the first rock bands from Rio Grande do Sul to acquire mainstream success nationwide alongside its "sister project" TNT (Brazilian band), TNT, th ...

), played alongside future

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

guitarist Tchê Gomes in the short-lived project Prisão de Ventre during the early 1980s. (Only one year after the founding of Graforreia Xilarmônica, the Birck brothers had already founded a

side project In popular music, a side project is a project undertaken by one or more people already known for their involvement in another band. It can also be an artist or a band temporarily switching to a different style. Usually these projects emphasize ...

named Aristóteles de Ananias Jr.) According to the band members, their unusual name (very roughly translated to English as "

Xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...

like In English, the word ''like'' has a very flexible range of uses, ranging from conventional to non-standard. It can be used as a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, particle, conjunction, hedge, filler, quotative, and semi-suffix. U ...

Graphorrhea Graphorrhea is a communication disorder involving excessive wordiness, incoherent rambling, or frequent digressions in writing. Graphorrhea is most commonly associated with schizophrenia. However, it can also result from other psychiatric disorder ...

) was chosen after looking for random words at a dictionary. In 1988 they released the

demo tape A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...

''Com Amor, Muito Carinho'', a massive underground hit which spawned some of their most memorable songs, such as "Empregada", "Amigo Punk", "Fúlvio Silas", "Dênis" and "Colégio Interno", which was included in the soundtrack of the film ''O Mentiroso'', by Werner Schünemann. Years later they signed with Carlos Eduardo Miranda's Banguela Records to release their first full-length album, ''Coisa de Louco II'', in 1995, which was critically acclaimed and quickly sold out. A follow-up, ''Chapinhas de Ouro'', came out in 1998 through Zoon Records and awarded the band a Prêmio Açorianos for Best Album the following year. Soon the band members got occupied with more personal projects though, and Graforreia Xilarmônica split up in early January 2000. In 2005 the band announced a reunion, and have been playing around Brazil since then. In 2006 they released their first live album, ''Graforreia Xilarmônica ao Vivo'', produced by Alexandre Kassin and Berna Ceppas and released through webzine ''Senhor F''. In 2011 they played at the Morrostock festival in Sapiranga, and celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2012 playing at the

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. Later on they released through their

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

page a special EP as a gift for their fans.Graforreia Xilarmônica: 25 Anos
at

The band had their songs "Nunca Diga" and "Eu" covered by

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band Pato Fu. Wander Wildner, formerly a vocalist of Os Replicantes, covered the songs "Empregada" and "Amigo Punk".

Members

* Frank Jorge – lead vocals, bass guitar (1987–present) * Carlo Pianta – electric guitar, additional vocals (1987–1989, 1992–present) * Alexandre Birck – drums (1987–present) * Marcelo Birck – electric guitar, additional vocals (1987–1990, 2001, 2011–2015)

Session musicians

* Tasso Ferreira – electric guitar (1987) * Eduardo Christ – electric guitar, additional vocals (1996–2000)

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Demos

Live albums

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Graforreia Xilarmônica Musical groups established in 1987 Musical groups disestablished in 2000 Musical groups reestablished in 2005 1987 establishments in Brazil 2000 disestablishments in Brazil 2005 establishments in Brazil Musical groups from Porto Alegre Brazilian pop rock music groups Brazilian comedy rock musical groups Brazilian folk rock groups Brazilian psychedelic rock music groups