If you thought TV shows in which audiences and juries judge musical acts were a relatively new phenomenon, you'd better think again. In the 1970s, such "festivals" were incredibly popular in Brazil. They were recorded before a live studio audience, and usually featured a number of elimination rounds. They also formed the springboard for the career of many a big-name star, such as Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso, Roberto Carlos and Gilberto Gil. Appearing on such a program was no cakewalk, however: audiences could be as wild in their condemnation as in their appreciation of an artist. Extensive archive footage (including performances and behind-the-scenes interviews) from a turbulent final of the Festival of Brazilian Popular Music one evening in 1967 paints a fascinating picture, not only of the transformation of Brazilian music into real "festival" music, but also of a society starting to buck against the yoke of military rule.
Solano Ribeiro
Paulinho Machado de Carvalho
Sônia Ribeiro
Blota Jr.
Sérgio Cabral
Zuza Homem de Mello
Chico de Assis
Sérgio Ricardo
Roberto Carlos
Nelson Motta
Gilberto Gil
Caetano Veloso
Chico Buarque
Rita Lee
Sérgio Dias
Arnaldo Baptista
Edu Lobo
Marília Medalha