Brazil

Frank Aguiar is known in his native Brazil as the caozinho ("little dog") of the keyboards, a nickname he earned for his habit of yelping during performances. He got his start when his father gave him a concertina when he was six. It wasn't long before the young Aguiar began playing at local festivals and music competitions, and by the time he was 15 he'd moved to Teresina in order to study music. He completed his course of study, relocated to São Paulo in 1992, and released his debut album later that year. His first four albums, released independently, were more or less unnoticed by mainstream Brazilian audiences, but his fifth album, 1997's Um Show de Forró, Vol. 1, went gold. Many volumes of Um Show de Forró followed, several of which went platinum, double platinum, and diamond. Vol. 8 was released in 2006. ~ Margaret Reges