The traditional music used to dance the forró was brought to the Southeast from the Northeast by Luiz Gonzaga, who transformed the baião (a word originated from "baiano" and assigned a warm-up for artists to search for inspiration before playing) into a more sophisticated rhythm. In later years, forró achieved popularity throughout Brazil, in the form of a slower genre known as "xote", that has been influenced by pop-rock music to become more acceptable by Brazilian youth of Southeast, South and Central regions.