By Anna Kaiser, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The fourth annual São João Carioca will take place today in Parque de Madureira, in Rio’s Zona Norte (North Zone), as a part of the city’s Festa Junina celebrations. The free festival will have performances by Preta Gil and the neighborhood’s famed “Baile Charme” dancers, along with traditional Festa Junina activities like forró music and dancing.
The event starts at 10AM and runs all day long. The festival, a family-friendly affair, is open to people of all ages. There will be games, rides, and arts and crafts for kids, as well as traditional Northeastern food stands and other artistic attractions.
There will be four stages set up for live music performances: the Samba, Madureira, Foot, and the Gazebo stages. Performances will include a wide range of traditional Brazilian music of the likes of forró, samba, pagode, and charme.
Preta Gil, a famous MPB (Popular Brazilian Music) artist, will perform in the late afternoon on the Samba Stage, while the group of Baile Charme dancers heat up the Madureira stage. The Baile Charme is a famous weekly dance party held underneath the Madureira viaduct.
Festa Junina parties are traditional celebrations that take place throughout the months of June and July in all of Brazil. They commemorate the days of three Catholic solemnities: Saint Anthony, Saint John the Baptist and Saint Peter.
People dress up as peasants and dance under arraiá’s, colorful flag tents. Traditional music from the Northeast region of Brazil, forró, axé, xote and xaxado, take center stage at these celebrations.
Read more (in Portuguese).
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