48 Hours In: Rio de Janeiro

The beach is best for the citizens of this fascinating Brazilian city. And with the New Year celebrations on their way, why wait for the carnival? Simon Calder enjoys a caipirinha or two

Midsummer in the sunny south of Brazil is always a seductive proposition. This remarkable city combines sun, sea, sand and samba, which are constantly celebrated by the citizens – notably on New Year's Eve, when two million of them will be on Copacabana Beach. But at any time of year, flying down to Rio has much to recommend it: this is a city that always has a smile on its face and a sun-hat on.

Touch down

The easiest way is aboard the new British Airways (0844 493 0787; ba.com) non-stop flights from Heathrow to the city's Galeao airport, which operate three times a week. The alternative is TAM (020-8897 0005; tam.com.br).

From the airport, a cab to the farthest-flung parts of town, Ipanema and Leblon, should cost no more than 50 reais (R50/£14). The journey takes as little as half an hour, though two or three times longer in rush hour.

Get your bearings

Because of the way that steep hills clad in profuse vegetation crowd in Rio, the city has complicated geography. The commercial hub is to the north, with the Candelaria church (1) marking the main crossroads for the city. Just to the east, the domestic Santos Dumont airport (2) is the closest-in of any big city. South from here the beaches begin – Flamengo and Botafogo – before the glorious punctuation of Sugarloaf mountain, the city's symbol. You can get an ideal overview by taking the cable car, in two stages, to the top; it departs from the Praia Vermelha base station (3) at least every 20 minutes 8am-9.50pm daily, for a fare of R44 (£13).

Continuing south, Copacabana is the city's "signature" beach, but many visitors prefer the lower-key charms of Ipanema and its western extension, Leblon.

Check in

Where do Duran Duran stay when they play Rio? The Fasano (4), on the ocean at the eastern end of Ipanema, at Avenida Vieira Souto 80 (00 55 21 3202 4000; fasano.com.br). Even if you choose not to pay the $340 (£230) nightly rate, excluding breakfast, to stay at the city's leading design hotel, it's worth calling in to admire the Philippe Starck interior.

A well-located and cheaper alternative is the Ipanema Plaza (5) at Rua Farme de Amoedo 34 (00 55 21 3687 2000; ipanemaplaza.com.br). A double costs $110 (£75) a night, excluding breakfast.

There are plenty of cheap hostels, such as Mellow Yellow (6) at Rua General Barbosa Lima 51 in Copacabana (00 55 2547 1993; mellowyellow.com.br).

Take a hike

Three miles, two beaches, and one long and beguiling stretch of sand: that is the prospect awaiting you at the eastern end of Ipanema beach. Clamber up on to the rocks of Ponta do Arpoador (7) for a fine view of the bay, then wander along the beach noting the numbered lifeguard posts. Each post traditionally attracts a different group of people. Post seven is popular with suburban visitors and is also nearest to Rio's best surfing beach. Eight is the gay post, while nine is for young people and 10 is for the rich and famous.

Once you cross the canal that leads up to the lagoon you leave Ipanema and join Leblon. At the end of this stretch of beach is a statue of a local gossip columnist. Leave the beach here, walk inland for one block along the Avenida Visconde de Albuquerque; turn left for one block and left again, and you will find yourself at the foot of a road which winds up to the mirador (8) where you get a fine view of the city.

Take a ride

Plenty of buses will take you into town, or a cab will cost around R20 (£5.50). Track down Carioca station (9), where Rio's last tram ride begins. They run every half hour, on the half hour, 7am-8.30pm; fare R0.60 (£0.20). People get on and off all the way along, and the rule is that if you ride on the running board then you don't need to pay. This is a remarkable journey, which lifts you across the old aqueduct then takes you rattling up to Santa Teresa, a once-run-down district that is being regenerated and is beginning to attract musicians and artists.

Lunch on the run

Santa Teresa, now the most Bohemian part of town, has plenty of options. If you take the tram to the point at which the lines diverge, at the stop called Largo dos Guimaraes, you will be right next to Jasmine Mango (10), Rua Pascoal Carlos Magno 143 (00 55 21 2242 2605), where good salads and coffee await.

Cultural afternoon

Every day feels like a festival in Rio, but there is only one real carnival – the samba-fuelled five-day frenzy each February; in 2009, it runs from Friday 20-Tuesday 24. But at any time of year you can go to Samba City (11), at Rua Rivadavia Correa 60 in Gamboa, which was reclaimed from an old railway yard three years ago and is now the home of the largest samba schools; this is where they make the costumes and the floats. You can get to look inside this fun factory, where the main product is flamboyance, any day except Sunday (00 55 21 2213 25030; sambacity.info).

An Aperitif

If it happens to be Saturday, you will need to get along to the Confeitaria Colombo (12) at Rua Goncalves Dias 32 (00 55 21 2505 1500; confeitariacolombo.com.br) before it shuts at 5pm; it opens 8am-8pm from Monday to Friday. This stunning Belle Epoque café was created at the end of the 19th century when Rio was at the height of her own beautiful era – she was the capital of the biggest country in South America. She lost that crown to the new city of Brasilia in 1960, but here at the Colombo they still party like its 1899, and gaze at themselves in lavish mirrors imported from Antwerp.

If you prefer to start drinking later in the evening, head to Travessa do Comércio, a narrow street lined with bars off the Praca 15 do Novembro in the Central district.

Dining with the locals

You could walk through the early evening light for Rio's best plate with a view. Porcao's Rio (13), at Avenida Infante Dom Henrique in Flamengo park (00 55 21 3389 8989; porcao.com.br; open daily noon–1am), has views across the water to Sugarloaf – try to get a table by the window on the south side.

Start by helping yourself to whatever you like from a buffet spread, then eat your body weight in barbecued meat; wash it down with a caipirinha, a mix of cane spirit and lime. Expect to pay around R70 (£20), plus drinks – expensive by Rio standards, but well worthwhile. If you prefer to spend about half as much, the Barril 1800 – a few yards west of the Fasano (4) is a seafront place with an extensive, good value menu. Or try Garota de Ipanema (14), where "The Girl from Ipanema" was written; there is plenty of memorabilia here, and the address – Rua Vinicius de Moraes 49 (00 55 21 2521 3168; garotaipanema.com.br) – celebrates one of the writers.

Sunday morning: Go to church

The church of Candelaria (1) is the spiritual landmark at the heart of Rio and was built on the site of the city's first church. Despite all the traffic outside, it retains a wonderful serenity.

Look at the magnificent cupola, which was transported to Rio from Lisbon. It opens 9am-1pm on Sundays, 7.30am-4pm from Monday to Friday, 8am-noon on Saturdays.

Out to brunch

The Brazilian family feast, feijoada, is a Saturday event – except at the place where the name is the menu: Casa de Feijoada (15) at Rua Prudente de Morais 10 in Ipanema (00 55 21 2247 2776), which serves the dish daily. Expect a vast amount of meats and sausages in a cauldron, served with black beans, rice, kale and orange.

Window shopping

Rio has some large street markets but if you're only in town for a couple of days then they might be a bit tricky to cope with. Instead, come to the Hippie Market (16) any Sunday from 9am to 5pm for crafts and curiosities.

A walk in the park

Take the funicular railway that heads up to Corcovado (00 55 21 2558 1329; corcovado.org.br) – pausing as you go through the base station (17) to read the information on this fascinating piece of infrastructure. Stop halfway, at Paineiras station (18). This is the gateway to Tijuca National Park, and within minutes you can find yourself in rainforest, with such a profusion of vegetation and fauna that you will find it hard to imagine you are on the edge of a city.

The icing on the cake

Continue by train to the summit of Corcovado – the mountain known as "Pinnacle of Temptation" to the first mariners who came to Rio. It offers fabulous views of the city and has one of the new seven wonders of the world: the statue of Christ the Redeemer (19). This 100ft-high statue was paid for by the people of Rio, who wanted someone to watch over them.

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/48-hours-in/48-hours-in-rio-de-janeiro-1063794.html

Christmas Tree of Bradesco Seguros e Previdencia

The Biggest Floating Christmas Tree in the World,
is Inaugurated in Rio De Janeiro

Event brought together thousands of people at the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon TO

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Nov 29, 2008 The inaugural event of the 13th consecutive edition of the Christmas Tree of Bradesco Seguros e Previdencia, the biggest floating Christmas tree in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records, brought together thousands of people this Saturday (November 29, 2008). Considered the third greatest event in the city of Rio de Janeiro, after Carnaval and New Year's Eve, the Tree brings something new for 2008 in the form of "A melody of peace for the Brazilian family." The spectacle of lights and colors has taken on a musical touch. An electronic carillon, imported from Italy and similar to the one used in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, has been installed within its structure to reproduce Christmas carols with bells played manually by professional bell-ringers. There are also fireworks scheduled for every Saturday.

The programming of the inaugural event, with a live television broadcast in real time by the Tree's hot site included a concert given by popular Brazilian artists such as singers Elba Ramalho, Joao Bosco, Roberta Sa and guitarist Turibio Santos, as well as the Choir of the Bradesco Foundation, made up of 112 young students. The American soprano Carol McDavit, who has been settled in Brazil for the past 20 years, also made an appearance.

The project has become the largest event sponsored by a single private company in Brazil. This is the 13th edition of the Christmas Tree of Bradesco Seguros e Previdencia, which for the first time will have thirteen flashing sequences of different images to dazzle the public. At the top of the 85- meter Tree, the star is now accompanied by two angels representing peace. The 52 kilometers of lighted strands are to evoke the Christmas theme, and 1,600 flashing lights are to evoke twinkling stars.

Certification in the Guinness Book

The second certification in the Guinness Book of Records, as the "largest floating Christmas tree in the world," was obtained because of the height of 85 meters in 2007 and recorded in the recently published 2009 edition. With its launching in 1996, the Tree was 48 meters high and up until the 2006 edition, 82 meters. The first certification in the Guinness book was awarded in 1999, when this symbol of Christmas measured 76 meters.

Technology and the Environment

For the past three years, the Christmas Tree of Bradesco Seguros e Previdencia has had generators fueled by biodiesel to reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere. For the third year, to ensure rationality in the consumption of fuel, the generators will be controlled by a computerized system.

Neutralization of Carbon

Emissions of carbon gas into the atmosphere produced by the assembly, display and dismantling of the Tree will be neutralized by the planting of trees in regions of the Mata Atlantica rainforest.

WWW.ARVORENATALBRADESCOSEGUROS.COM.BR/FOTOS

Super-rich buck global trend and spend, spend, spend

The security barrier swung slowly skywards, clearing the way for another glistening four-wheel drive to glide past, its occupants obscured by black-tinted, bulletproof windows.

Nearby, under the shade of a towering jackfruit tree, a cluster of dusty construction workers took a break from their morning's work - erecting yet another luxury, palm-flanked fortress in Jardim Pernambuco, a cocoon of 140 millionaires' mansions nestled on a hillside above southern Rio de Janeiro, the heartland of Brazilian high society.

While the credit crunch wreaks havoc elsewhere, Brazil's super-rich have so far emerged relatively unscathed. Glossy lifestyle magazines are filled with full-page adverts for spa resorts, designer handbags and diamond bracelets that cost more than many Brazilians earn in a lifetime. High-end estate agents say they are as busy as ever, while a new wave of so-called "extra-class" hotels are packed to the rafters each weekend.

A recent study conducted by MFC Consultoria e Conhecimento, a Brazilian research group specialising in luxury goods, claimed that Brazil's luxury sector, known by some here as the Mercardo AAA - Triple-A Market - grew by 17% last year with a similar rise expected for 2008.

Brazil is a world leader when it comes to growth in numbers of high net-worth individuals. In the last two years its number of millionaires jumped from 130,000 to 220,000 and for now at least, the economic slump has not stopped them shopping. "The main players [in Brazil] are Louis Vuitton, Dior, Versace, Armani, Valentino, Gucci and Prada," said Carlos Ferreirinha, director of MFC.

From the Amazon city of Manaus to the southern metropolises of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, a growing number of luxury shopping centres and condominiums are opening their security gates, pools and tennis courts to the country's wealthy.

Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva came to power in 2003 promising to haul millions of his compatriots out of poverty. But his time in power has also coincided with an unprecedented boom for the rich. Lula currently enjoys an historic approval rating of 57% among Brazil's wealthiest citizens.

"From an economic point of view Lula is not a leftist, he is not a revolutionary. He is a conservative," said Lucia Hippolito, a well-known political commentator. "He feels very at home around businessmen."

However, there are increasing signs that the financial crisis is starting to rear its head in Brazil. Falling commodity prices have eaten away at the advance of Brazil's currency, the real, and a series of major infrastructure projects are expected to suffer delays as a result. The middle and lower classes are also starting to feel the pinch as credit dries up. Ferreirinha believes Brazil's luxury boom will start to slow in 2009.

For now, however, the crisis seems a distant prospect in places like Jardim Pernambuco, where the afternoon silence is broken only by the chirping of birds and the thwack of tennis balls.

"The bankers are happier here than ever before," said Hippolito. "In Brazil we joke that Lula is the father of the poor and the mother of the rich."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/29/brazil-credit-crunch

Petrobras’ Future Could Be Bright

Petroleo Brasileiro SA (NYSE: PBR) has uncovered what has been called one of the biggest oil fields in the world, but the retreat in oil prices has led to a sharp drop in the firm’s market valuation. The drop can be attributed to the fact that the majority of this oil is very expensive to get out of the ground and the company’s project assumptions of $40 a barrel oil is at risk of breaking. The big question is: How far will oil drop and will it stay low?

Oil prices hitting $147 were a clear sign of a bubble, but many are saying that $40 a barrel may be too low. So, where is the actual market equilibrium for crude oil prices? The question is difficult to answer due to the nature of the oil market - the supply side is tightly controlled and the demand side is difficult to predict. However, we know that an improvement in the economies of the world would increase the appetite for oil once more and spur prices higher.

So, assuming the current economic crisis doesn’t last forever, oil prices should eventually move higher. The big question is when this will happen. The United States is the largest consumer of oil and the current recession is expected to last for awhile. However, a rebound in oil prices only relies on an increase in spending, which some economists are expecting to see as early as the second half of 2009. So, if oil begins to turn around companies like Petrobras could prove to be quite the bargain.

Petrobras currently trades at just over 4x earnings despite holding rights to one of the largest oil reserves in the world. Its recent discoveries off the coast of Rio de Janeiro have been estimated to contain billions of barrels of high quality light crude oil. The company just recently began commercial production of Brazil’s first subsalt oil a few months ago by linking a subsalt well to an existing production platform that was lifting heavy oil from shallower depths.

Investors confident in oil’s eventual recovery and Petrobras’ impressive line-up of projects over the long-term should consider investing in long-term or LEAPS options. These let investors place bets without committing as much capital up-front, which helps multiply gains when a recovery takes place. Currently, the January 2011 $25 LEAPS are trading at just $5.00 a piece. This means that investors can obtain the rights to 100 shares of Petrobras at $25 per share anytime during the next 791 days for just $500 down!

leapsinvestor.com/market-news/petrobras-future-could-be-bright-261

Telenovelas lose their sizzle in Brazil

Genre grappling with weak ratings

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Is the gloss coming off telenovelas, the perennial primetime favorites that could be relied upon to pump Brazil's free-to-air webs?Recent viewing data shows that audiences are falling, leading some analysts and industry execs to prophesize the end of the genre's dominance as competition from the Internet and pay TV lures viewers away. Others blame saturation of the format.

Studies from local research firm Ibope show a decrease in eyeballs for TV Globo's telenovelas. The net is a distant audience leader here and produces and airs four in primetime Monday through Saturday.

The most dramatic fall is in TV Globo's 6 p.m. slot, currently occupied by "Negocio da China," which has declined to 40% this year from a 56% average in 2006 when ??? was on air.

Even TV Globo's 10 p.m. slot, now featuring "A Favorita," the country's most-watched TV program with an aud share of 60%, is down from the 69% notched up in 2006.

The situation has become so dire that No. 4 net TV Bandeirantes recently shut down its telenovela production division and did not renew the temporary work contract of some 200 employees. Net has vowed to resume production next year.

The rapid expansion of competing media is probably the main culprit in telenovelas' rating decline. With incomes rising, many Brazilians can finally afford pay TV -- some 5.4 million homes had subscriptions in July, up 13% from March 2007, according to sector association ABTA. And the number of Internet users has soared to 23.7 million in July from 11.6 million in July 2004, according to Ibope/NetRatings.

However, webheads believe it's a cyclical decrease."This year's telenovela audience should not be compared with the audiences in 2006 or 2004 that were exceptional years," TV Globo's spokeswoman told Variety. "Audiences sharply fluctuate year by year."

She pointed out that "A Favorita's" 60% share compared well with the 41% share the 10 p.m. telenovela slot had in 1999.

No. 2 net TV Record is also bullish on telenovelas, says communications manager Ricardo Frota.

The net is investing 200 million reals ($100 million) to expand its production center Recnov in Rio. This will allow TV Record, which already makes and airs two telenovelas, to open a third telenovela slot.

But it's going to fill the slot with a tried-and trusted format -- a remake of Colombia's worldwide phenom "Betty la fea," due to air in mid 2009. It will be co-produced in Rio with Mexican giant Televisa, as part of a recently inked five-year deal.

Miriam Shirley, media director of the Rio division of pub agency Ogilvy & Mather, believes the truth about telenovelas may be somewhere in between.

"Yes, there is a falling trend. But the ratings will eventually stabilize," she says. "Telenovelas will no longer be as important as they once were, but they will continue to present outstanding audiences."

Shirley adds the expected economic slowdown here next year may be an opportunity for broadcasters.

"In a crisis, Brazilians traditionally cut pay TV subscriptions. We may also see people cutting broadband subscriptions and turning back to dialup connections," she says. "In the meantime, the good old telenovela will be available on free TV."

www.variety.com/article/VR1117996311.html?categoryId=2523&cs=1

Brazil uses phrases of Obama to promote Rio's 2016 bid

President of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, "stole" words from U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to promote Rio de Janeiro's 2016 Olympics bid.

Nuzman used words like "change" and "hope" to woo the support of the International Olympic Committee regarding the selection of the host city of the 2016 Summer Games.

"Rio is a passionate city that is full of beauty, diversity and energy. The games would help to promote the already social transformation taking place in Rio. You have the power to make a historic decision and to make a change, strengthening our Olympic movement," said Nuzman.

Like Obama's speech, Nuzman claims that a vote for Rio de Janeiro is a vote for change. The Olympic Games have never been held in South America. Thus, a vote for Rio de Janeiro would truly represent a change.

The vote is set to take place in October next year in Copenhagen. Also in the race are Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/22/content_10395597.htm

When In Rio

BLUE-blooded society girls, supermodels and the fashion elite jetted into Rio de Janeiro last week for a dose of the scintillating style that was behind the first ever Rio Summer event. And where else but Brazil could you see Valentino Garavani and Lady Gabriella Windsor get down to the samba with a Carnival dancer, Natalia Vodianova play beach ball with her kids, and Carlos Miele's models prance alongside giant cannons to a live MC and street band?

The four-day extravaganza saw Brazilian brands pull out all the stops by cherry-picking the best holiday looks from their regular collections. Kitted out in colourful wraps and tunics while on the boardwalk, bikinis and slinky trunks when they dive in and sheer caftans and heels after they dry off, everyone has a bag ready for a stroll down the beach in Rio.

Brazil's ubiquitous summertime brand, Blue Man, chose a Bohemian Seventies rock chick as its muse and sent her down the runway in sugar coated bikinis; Salinas decorated op-art inspired swimwear with futuristic floral jewellery; Daslu took the fashion pack to a nightclub where models in its newly launched youth label 284 climbed around a disco-lit scaffold sidestepping shirtless boys doing Capoeira moves.

Cris Barros and Jo de Mer, meanwhile, went for subtle pre-beach frocks and maillots while Iodice and Triya injected fearless colour into their razor-sharp creations. Osklen, Lenny and Rosa Cha flexed their taut muscle as kings of the year-round holiday wardrobe, and Cia Maritima and Isabela Capeto took cues from more natural shapes and colour palettes. But whatever their aesthetic angle, Brazilian designers who live, work and breathe the beach are in pole position to make both resortwear and swimwear a winning niche in their business.

http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/daily/081112-rio-summer-event-roundup.aspx

In the steps of the slave traders

A wooden sailing ship is taking adventurers along the Brazilian coast, writes Mike Heard.

Intrepid travellers get the opportunity next year to explore the coast of Brazil in a wooden sailing ship.

A 40-metre vessel, built in the Amazon jungle, sails between Rio de Janeiro and the Unesco World Heritage town of Paraty, about 200 kilometres to the south.

En route, passengers can go ashore to swim and snorkel, explore villages and towns and hike through rainforests filled with monkeys and armadillos.

Paraty is noted for its well-preserved 17th-century colonial homes.

A former port for the shipment of gold and diamonds to Europe, it was also the centre of an area producing sugar-cane liquor and at one time had 250 distilleries for a population of only 16,000. The end of the slave trade in 1888 saw the population drop to about 600.

Tourism revived Paraty's fortunes in the mid-1970s when a highway linking it with Rio de Janeiro was completed.

The two-masted sailing ship, Tocorime Pamatojari (Adventurous Spirit), sleeps up to 16 passengers and has five crew.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/travel/activities--interests/cruising/in-the-steps-of-the-slave-traders/2008/10/15/1223750091984.html

Brazil: The country pays homage to the Samba master

If he was alive, Angenor de Oliveira (1908-1980), better known as Cartola, would be celebrating 100 years this October 11. To put it simply, Cartola was one of the most important figures in Brazilian samba and the composer behind the first samba school in Rio de Janeiro. Despite having only 4 years of formal education, Cartola composed or co-composed over 500 songs, all of them presenting very elaborate but simple lyrics which are deeply loved by Brazilians.

“Cartola did not exist. It was a dream that we had”, has said Nelson Sargento, another legendary Brazilian composer. On the centenary of this dream, bloggers pay homage publishing their favorite song or poem, quotes, videos, photos and bits and pieces of Cartola's history, a history inextricably linked with the history of samba itself.

Danton K [pt] talks about Cartola's poor childhood - he was the fourth of seven children - and how this made him interested in music.

Angenor de Oliveira nasceu no bairro do Catete, no Rio de Janeiro, no dia 11 de outubro de 1908. Tinha oito anos quando sua família se mudou para Laranjeiras e 11 quando passou a viver no morro da Mangueira, de onde não mais se afastaria. Desde menino participou das festas de rua, tocando cavaquinho no rancho Arrepiados e nos desfiles do Dia de Reis. Passando por diversas escolas, conseguiu terminar o curso primário, mas aos 15 anos, depois da morte da mãe, deixou a família e a escola, iniciando sua vida de boêmio.

Angenor de Oliveira was born in the neighborhood of Catete, in Rio de Janeiro, on October 11, 1908. He was 8 when his family moved to Laranjeiras and 11 when they went to live in the Mangueira slum, which he would never leave. From a young age he participated in street festivals, playing Cavaquinho in the Arrepiados carnival groups and the twelfth day parades. He went through several schools, and managed to finish primary school, but only at 15 years. After the death of his mother, he left the family and school and began his bohemian life.

It was there in the neighborhood of Mangueira that Cartola met other sambistas and the malandragem. At 19 years, in 1928, with a group of friends, Cartola played an important role in founding a carnival group that later became Estação Primeira de Mangueira, one of the most loved samba-schools in Brazil. Douglas Ceconello [pt] talks about how he combined his two passions in this project:
Cartola não apenas fundou a Estação Primeira de Mangueira como escolheu as cores e o nome. O verde e rosa, achava ele, referiam-se às tonalidades de seu querido e amado - o que naquela época devia parecer bastante paradoxal - Fluminense.
Not only did Cartola found the Estação Primeira de Mangueira but he chose its colors and name. The green and pink, he thought, referred to the shades of his dear and beloved team - which at that time should seem rather paradoxical - Fluminense [Football Club].
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/10/12/brazil-the-country-pays-homage-to-the-samba-master/

Music of Brazil

Brazil Overview:

Brazil is a country overflowing with music from every corner, and there is a deep connection between Brazilians and their music. A tricultural mix of indigenous groups, Portuguese colonizers and African slaves makes for an immensely diverse population. (It has the largest number of African descendants outside of Africa.) And while the indigenous music retained much of its traditional context throughout the colonial period (and even to today), it never played as central a role in the development of Brazil's popular music as did the music of the Africans and Portuguese.

As a vast country of many states, Brazil's music is regional, with each section (sometimes specific cities) contributing distinct musical genres. Portuguese influences abound in the country's rich and lyrical poetry, the exquisite melody, and the instrumentation including the accordion, guitar and violin families. Roman Catholic festivals and pageants remain as seasonal events in various regions in Brazil, and the Portuguese sentimental song forms such as the moda and the fado became staple genres. The European influences are not exclusively Portuguese, of course, as Brazil witnessed the arrival of settlers from Germany, Italy, Lebanon and even Japan.

The African elements are both obvious and subtle, and primarily include drumming and dancing forms expressed largely through communal and spiritual tradition as well as martial art forms such as capoeira. African slaves were brought to Brazil for nearly 300 years, with the racial predominance of Sudanese and Bantu groups (Yoruban, Dahomean, Congolese and Angolan), among others. The Afro-Brazilian religion known as candomblé is one of the largest manifestations of syncretic religion in the Americas, combining Yoruban and Catholic symbolism, and thrives primarily in the northeastern state of Bahia. As in Cuba and Haiti, Brazilian Africans were able to retain a great majority of their music, dance and spiritual traditions, primarily along the coastal areas, resulting in some of the richest and most popular forms known around the world. Among Brazil's most celebrated colonial-era forms were the lundu and the maxixe, both steeped in African tradition with dance elements viewed as erotic and indecent, but which (of course) became increasingly popular as they climbed the social ladder to acceptance by the middle class. Centuries later, Brazil would again "shock" the world with forms such as the samba and the lambada, producing some of the most exciting and vibrant music and dance anywhere.

Considered one of the most popular forms ever to emerge from the country, specifically from Rio de Janeiro, samba is another distinct music and dance genre that dates back to the colonial period. Coalescing in the early 20th century, samba's roots lie in the circle dances of Congolese and Angolan tradition. Around the turn of the century it became associated with carnival, where large groups of Brazilians of largely lower class status joined together in celebration. As it evolved over the decades to come, samba became the distinct sound of Rio's carnaval, with large contingents known as escolas (schools) beating on multiple percussion instruments as they paraded through the city streets. Samba would also spawn several sub-styles and fusions in the eastern state of Bahia, leading to one of the country's most popular genres to date: samba-reggae. And by the 21st century, televised broadcasts of Rio's carnaval share the unbridled energy of samba with the world.

One of Brazil's samba relatives emerged during the late 1950s as a softer, more refined form primarily for singing. Connected to a previous offshoot known as samba-canção, bossa nova was a slower vocal form with lyrics reflecting the romantic and nostalgic side of Brazilian life, and one of its pioneers was composer Antônio Carlos Jobim (1927–1994). Along with lyricist Vinícius de Morães, Jobim's rich and unconventional bossa nova explored the influences of American jazz music through its more sophisticated harmony, while the vocal style was less dramatic, more nasal and subtle. When artists such as João Gilberto first recorded bossa novas in the late '50s, music critics panned it as "music for out-of-tune singers," yet the genre would go on to become one of the most celebrated Brazilian styles on an international level.

The 1960s were tumultuous political times in Brazil, and the musical landscape was transformed by the experimental tropicália movement. Artists who spoke out against the government repression of the decade found themselves in prison or in exile, such as Gilberto Gil (Brazil's current minister of culture) and poet/activist/musician Chico Buarque, but as tensions relaxed in the '70s, Brazilian music began its most prolific and prosperous era of the 20th century. Dubbed as MPB or música popular Brasileira, this musical melting pot of artists and genres embraced virtually anything and everything from Brazil and beyond, and paved the way for numerous collaborative opportunities between Brazilian artists and their international peers. Seminal artists such as Milton Nascimento, Elis Regina, Ivan Lins, Maria Bethânia, Caetano Veloso, João Bosco, Djavan, Gal Costa and many others explored the richness and variety of regional music, and melded it with jazz, rock, folk and classical forms. Samba found a new forum outside of the carnaval, with modern harmony and electric instruments that brought it into the nightclubs 24/7, and Afro-Brazilian roots music began its journey toward the spotlight as MPB artists shared the wealth of Brazil's African heritage within the vehicle of popular music (now largely referred to as axê music).

In Brazil's northeastern state of Ceará there is an entirely different lifestyle and climate, with a vast arid desert known as the sertão, and a distinct musical and dance style commonly known as forró. This accordion-driven music is part of the region's popular dance forms dating back to the late 19th century, when cowboys would celebrate the end of the dry season. Over time, the specific rhythm attached to the style, called the baião, would inspire a couples dance accompanied by accordion, zabumba (bass drum) and triangle. The leading pioneer of the style, Luiz Gonzaga, made the first recordings of the style in the mid-1940s. While the style lost momentum during the bossa nova fever of the '60s, forró would gain a new generation of fans in the '80s when MPB artists Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso recorded modern versions of Gonzaga's tunes.

While native tribes in the Amazon retain their ancient musical traditions dating back centuries (or millennia), Brazilian regional music continues its extraordinary journey from tradition to modernization, and keeps the world moving to an infectious beat. —Rebeca Mauleon

http://www.brazilcham.com/default.asp?id=248&c002_ui=sa&c002_id=421

Brazil boom lifts millions into middle class

Clearing a space among empty beer bottles, Paulo spreads out a glossy leaflet that envisions an urban development more reminiscent of Tokyo or Singapore than the Rio de Janeiro slum where he has lived for 50 years.

A pedestrian bridge with a sweeping arch is shown next to an azure swimming pool surrounded by palm trees. Nearby, a hospital and a sports center will rise, not far from hundreds of new apartments for residents now living in shacks perched on the hillside.

It is a different world to the daily life of the more than 1 million people living in Rio's slums, or favelas, who have long been left by government to fend for themselves, often caught between ruthless drug gangs and violent police tactics.

"We believe in it," said Paulo, a community leader in the Rocinha favela who, like many in the slums, did not want his real name used for fear of reprisals from drug gangs. He then sounded a note of skepticism about Brazil's government. "If they don't do it, then maybe they will suffer."

The Rocinha development, part of a $315 billion federal program aimed at improving the country's decrepit infrastructure, is one sign of how millions of poor are benefiting from an unprecedented period of economic growth in South America's largest economy.

The income of the poorest 10 percent of people grew by about 9 percent per year between 2001 and 2006, compared with 2 to 4 percent for richer people, according to the World Bank. The country still has some of the worst inequality in the world, but that is changing rapidly as tens of millions move out of danger of hunger and within reach of their first television, refrigerator or computer.

"It's more like it is booming up than trickling down," Deborah Wetzel, the World Bank's lead economist and head of poverty reduction and economic management for Brazil, said of the growth.

NOT FOR EVERYONE

Much of the progress has come in the past few years, helped by a family stipend program expanded by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that ties welfare checks to school attendance and which is being copied around the world.

Yet for many in the remote countryside and the thousands of slums that surround big cities, the obstacles to a better life remain equally large -- terrible schools, high crime, discrimination, and skewed legal and tax systems.

A study by the government's Institute for Applied Economic Research showed that the richest 10 percent of Brazilians hold 75.4 percent of the wealth. Thanks to a regressive tax system, they only lose 22.7 percent of their incomes to tax, compared with 32.8 percent for the poorest 10 percent of Brazilians.

In Rio, only a handful of slums out of more than 600 in the city are in line for improvements under the federal program, leaving many feeling left out. Resistance from drug gangs who fear the works will threaten their trade has already led to delays.

"This growth is not for all the population," said Leriana Figueiredo, who works at a sports center funded by British group Fight For Peace in the Nova Holanda shantytown, which is not due any public works under the program.

"The majority here don't have jobs."

A short walk from the center on a recent night, armed youths were selling cocaine from street-side tables as openly as other stall owners were selling fruit.

COMPANIES MOVE IN

Rocinha, often called South America's largest slum, is in many ways the Hilton of Rio's shanty-towns with at least 8 banks and a slew of foreign aid groups. The stability is deceptive, owing more to the firm grip of one of Rio's most powerful drug gangs than the presence of the state, but the effect of the country's economic growth can be seen in its bustling streets and stores.

Mexico's Banco Azteca, owned by tycoon Ricardo Salinas, plans a branch in Rocinha after starting Brazil operations this year in the northeast targeting low-income savers. Customers can use fingerprint technology to get around literacy problems and open an account with as little as $3.

Outside a Casas Bahia store in downtown Rio, 27-year-old Nara Macedo Moreira said on a recent afternoon that her monthly income of just 600 reais ($375) had not held her back from buying a flat-screen television and a DVD player.

"I'm furnishing my whole house this way," said Moreira, who was visiting the store to pay her latest installment. Next on her shopping list was a computer.

But it is still alienation that defines much of life in the thousands of lawless slums that surround big cities, despite national unemployment near record lows.

Most children in Nova Holanda drop out of school at around 12 or 13, Figueiredo said, leaving them with little chance in the job market and vulnerable to being tempted into drug gangs that offer quick money and status. Discrimination against slum dwellers, many of whom are black, is another economic barrier. Many job seekers from poor areas give false addresses when applying for positions.

Two young workers at the boxing project, Bruno Silva and Carol Belo, both had hopes of getting to college one day but felt they had been held back by poorly-funded schools compared to the ones attended by middle-class children. They said books were often missing sections and were so scarce that students had to photocopy one chapter at a time.

"I need to take an entrance test but I don't see the point," said Belo, who wanted to take administration and social studies. "I have too many weaknesses."

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN2546910920080709?sp=true

Bossa Brazil has got the moves

Bossa Brazil: The Birth Of Bossa Nova

This solid documentary goes straight to the source and invites the pioneers of the genre to recall the birth of bossa nova 50 years ago.

Pioneering musicians Carlos Lyra and Roberto Menescal are our guides, reminiscing about Antonio Carlos Jobim (The Girl From Ipanema), João Gilberto and muse Nara Leão. They point out old haunts in Rio de Janeiro and recall the key players behind the fusion of jazz and samba.

Their love for bossa is infectious, making it easy to see how their style captured the imagination of a student generation looking for a way to express their spirit.

Brazil was then enjoying a golden period: Pelé was leading the national football team to World Cup victory and the arts were thriving. But this all about the music – panoramic shots of Rio's beaches are about as far it goes in examining bossa nova within a wider cultural context.

http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/film/article.html?in_article_id=209233&in_page_id=9

Petrobras Finds Signs of Large Oil Deposits Near Tupi

Petroleo Brasileiro SA has found signs of large oil deposits near its Tupi field, the largest Western Hemisphere oil discovery since 1976, the state- controlled company's chief executive officer said.

``Today we have information about the areas and the indication of the existence of hydrocarbons,'' Jose Sergio Gabrielli, Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras' chief said in a Bloomberg TV interview at the World Petroleum Congress in Madrid. ``We're certain of a huge increase in reserves.''

Discoveries near Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo including Tupi will at least triple Brazil's oil reserves, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told Bloomberg in June. Petrobras has about 13 billion barrels of proved reserves.

Petrobras found more oil accumulations in the basin, including Tupi-sized accumulations of natural gas and oil in its Jupiter field, and hasn't been able to quantify the total amount of reserves, Gabrielli said.

The company hasn't yet determined if the finds are separate fields or one larges discovery, he said. Under Brazilian law, if the field extends beyond the lease boundaries of a single company or exploration group, the participants must agree to develop the deposits jointly.

Tupi has as much as 8 billion barrels of recoverable oil equivalent, Petrobras said in November. The entire pre-salt region may contain as much as 50 billion barrels of oil, according to Peter Wells, director of U.K. research firm Neftex Petroleum Consultants Ltd.

15-Year Supply

Tupi may hold enough oil to supply every refinery on the U.S. East Coast for 15 years.

Petrobras preferred shares, its most-traded class of stock, fell 2.11 reais, or 4.6 percent, to 43.98 reais in Sao Paulo.

Petrobras said last year that it plans to spend $112 billion in 2008-2012 to expand production. The plan, announced before Tupi and other pre-salt discoveries were announced, may have to be expanded to meet the development needs of the oil province.

A new plan to include pre-salt development is expected to be announced in August or September, Gabrielli said.

Petrobras owns 65 percent of Tupi and operates the concession. Reading, U.K.-based BG Plc owns 25 percent and Lisbon-based Galp Energia SGPS SA owns 10 percent.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=a22xSc2mvg9A&refer=news

Kid´s carnival opens in Rio de Janeiro

In South America, Rio de Janeiro has turned into a fairyland for children. A huge carnival is underway in the Brazilian city to entertain local residents and tourists.

The kids' carnival is dominated by youth. Some stick to conventional entertainment like shooting hoops, blowing balloons, and angling for fish. Others like to try something more challenging -- like cowboy stunts. And after an exhausting round of exercise, they can stuff their faces at the sausage, barbecue. Fruit juice is available at the ubiquitous food stands.

In Brazil, June brings the corn harvest. It's an occasion for celebration. People dress in the rustic attire of country folk and sing and dance around camp fires all night. For the children's carnival, face painting is a big deal.

The kids' carnival is also fun for adults. At nightfall, outdoor dance parties get rolling. Cartoon characters lead the way as children and adults enjoy an evening of family entertainment. The carnival is a major event in the city. More than 30,000 people attended the three day festival this year.

http://www.cctv.com/program/cultureexpress/20080628/102319.shtml

Brazil Oil Reserves Will at Least Triple, Lula Says

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Brazil will at least triple its oil reserves by exploring a new offshore area that includes the Western Hemisphere's largest discovery since 1976.

``This is very promising for Brazil,'' Lula, 62, said in a Bloomberg Television interview today at the presidential palace in Brasilia. ``We have to take advantage of this oil to develop the country.''

A tripling of proved reserves from 12.6 billion barrels would move Brazil into the world's top 10 nations in oil supplies, according to estimates from London-based BP Plc. Brazil, Latin America's largest economy, would overtake Nigeria, currently No. 10 with 36.2 billion barrels, and put it close to Kazakhstan, which has 39.8 billion barrels.

Lula, who is moving into the last two years of his final term, said he has changed his mind and won't seek membership for Brazil in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries because he wants the nation to focus on refining its growing oil output, not just selling crude abroad.

``I want Brazil to export refined products,'' said Lula, who wore a light gray suit and a black tie peppered with white dots. ``I'm under no illusion that Brazil will join OPEC. I used to be, but am no longer.''

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the state-controlled oil company known as Petrobras, said in November that its Tupi field may hold 8 billion barrels of recoverable oil equivalent, the biggest discovery in the Americas since Mexico's Cantarell field.

Pre-Salt

Tupi is part of an area called pre-salt that stretches 800 kilometers (500 miles) off the coast near Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Such reservoirs beneath as much as 3,000 meters (9,840 feet) of water and 7,000 meters of seabed may contain 50 billion barrels of oil, according to Peter Wells, director of U.K. research firm Neftex Petroleum Consultants Ltd.

Oil prices, which jumped above $140 a barrel to a record today, will probably stay high enough to justify exploring the pre-salt fields, Lula said. The Tupi deposit and nearby offshore prospects may cost $240 billion to exploit, said Neftex's Wells, a former Royal Dutch Shell Plc exploration manager.

Lula declined to provide an estimate for the pre-salt reserves today, saying the exploration is just starting. The government is working on new regulations to ensure the state keeps more of the oil profits from the pre-salt fields than it does from other wells so there's more money for education and health-care investments, Lula said.

Poor, Rolexes

``It's a chance for poor Brazilians to use this money as opposed to having people with a lot of oil and three or four watches and a Rolex in their pockets,'' said Lula, who grew up in poverty. ``We want to take advantage of these riches to ensure that Brazil can take a great leap forward.''

``Not only is God a Brazilian, he's now living in Brazil,'' said Lula.

Lula, whose rise to power panicked investors and brought the country to the brink of defaulting on its debt in 2000, has started the second half of this term with the nation boasting the highest credit rating in its history. After using the trust of the poor to buy time for his orthodox economic program to yield fruit, he has said he'll deliver on his promise to make sure the benefits of growth are also felt by poorer families.

Part of the future pre-salt oil revenue will also be used to enlarge a sovereign wealth fund Brazil is creating with about 14 billion reais ($8.7 billion) this year, Lula said. The fund will help finance the expansion of Brazilian companies overseas, he said.

Oil Refineries

Petrobras is investing more than $10 billion to build two refineries to handle expanding output of heavy crude oil from its Campos basin fields, the source of about 80 percent of Brazil's output.

A 150,000-barrels-a-day refinery in Rio de Janeiro will make products for the petrochemical industry and a 200,000- barrel-a-day refinery near the northeastern city of Recife will produce vehicle and other fuels. Petrobras also plans to build at least two more Brazilian refineries.

The government and the state development bank own 37.5 percent of Petrobras's preferred and common shares, and about 56 percent of the voting shares.

Lula said he is determined to prevent inflation from exceeding the government's 4.5 percent target. As evidence of his intent, he cited the decision to raise the government's primary budget surplus before interest payments to 4.3 percent from 3.8 percent of gross domestic product.

Threat of Inflation

``I worked a long time inside a factory and have lived in this country with inflation of 80 percent a month,'' said Lula, who lost the small finger of his left hand in an industrial accident at 19. ``I know the impact this has on a person who receives a monthly salary. And it's these people I want to protect.''

Lula achieved the transformation of Brazil's economic standing by combining a pragmatic mix of populist policies and capitalist economics that set off a 12-fold gain in the stock market's value in dollar terms and created a record number of Brazilian billionaires.

Since 2003, the Brazilian currency gained 120 percent against the dollar and the benchmark stock index has jumped fivefold, beating all major markets in the world. Brazil became a net foreign creditor for the first time in January as rising export revenue boosted international reserves to more than $190 billion. Standard & Poor's raised Brazil's credit rating to investment grade for the first time on April 30.

Shifting Perspectives

``I don't think there's much contradiction in what I used to say and what I say now,'' Lula said. ``When I was a candidate, my world was one thing. When I was a metal worker, my world was my union. When you're the president, you have to care for companies of 10 workers as well as those with 20,000 employees.''

Lula said the U.S. will eventually use Brazilian ethanol fuel, which is made from sugarcane, because it's 50 percent cheaper to make than corn ethanol and doesn't curb food supply. U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's comments that it wouldn't be in the U.S.'s interest to replace gasoline with Brazilian ethanol fuel are just campaign rhetoric, Lula said.

``I'm convinced that whoever wins the election will start using ethanol made from sugarcane,'' Lula said, speaking in a wood-paneled room decorated with paintings by Brazilian artists Di Cavalcanti and Djanira da Motta e Silva.

Lula said he told President George W. Bush that the U.S. should help Central American countries start producing sugar ethanol for export to prevent social tension.

Talking to Counterparts

The Brazilian president said he's been talking to Bush, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other heads of government about the need to reduce farm subsidies and invest in Africa to boost food output.

At the next Group of Eight meeting, in which countries such as Brazil and Mexico will also participate, Lula said he will propose a discussion about how potential speculation in futures markets for commodities may be driving up prices.

The global food shortage is a ``great opportunity'' for Brazil to become the ``bread basket'' of the world, Lula said, adding he will announce a government program next month to finance farmers and double their output.

``Brazil has found its path and I believe that there is no way back. From here on we will only improve,'' Lula said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ajMY92dNzAGs&refer=home

Hot market lures new generation of Brazil investors

When Paolo Portinho meets up with his musician friends for a night out in Rio de Janeiro, they jam a few tunes and knock back some beers -- but only after having a serious talk about the stock market.

Brazilians' long-held suspicion of stock investment, born out of years of rampant inflation and economic instability, is evaporating in the face of a Sao Paulo market that has more than tripled in 4 years on the back of a booming economy.

The number of individual investors in Brazil has risen six-fold in the past five years and more than doubled since 2006 to nearly 490,000. In 5 years, the daily amount they trade has soared to 1.8 billion reais (560 million pounds) from 120 million reais (37 million pounds).

At a time when many Americans and Europeans are fretting over their jobs and houses as recession looms, magazine covers here are full of pictures showing grinning investors being showered in cash from their stock market exploits.

Despite a pullback in recent days, the market's Bovespa index is up 1 percent this year, compared to a 44 percent surge in 2007.

That compares to a 10 percent fall in the U.S. Dow Jones index and double-digit losses in several major European stock markets.

"I've been trading stocks since I was 18 but I never saw anything like this," said Mauricio Bastter Hissa, a 44-year-old who has written several best-selling books on investing here.

Hissa, a triathlete often found walking his German Shepherd dog near Rio's Leblon beach, gave up his job as a doctor last year to meet growing demand for his workshops and investment advice on his website.

Brazilians, many of them with spare income to invest in stocks for the first time, are signing up in droves to sites like Hissa's and brokerages with Internet trading sites such as Agora (click on www.agorainvest.com.br), and independent brokerage Spinelli (click on www.spinelli.com.br).

"Almost all of the old broker firms are going into the Internet business," said Portinho, 35, who heads the National Association of Investors (INI) in Rio and plays guitar when he meets fellow members of his investment club.

"They should be, because home brokers are a fever among Brazilian investors." Home brokers is the Brazilian term for Internet trading sites.

VULNERABLE TO DOWNTURN?

That is prompting industry change as banks seek to expand their brokerage business.

Banco Bradesco, Brazil's largest private bank, bought Rio de Janeiro-based Agora in April for $494 million, picking up its 29,000 active clients. Banco Fator, one of Brazil's last independent investment banks, has said it is scouting 4 or 5 brokerage investment targets in the expectation that share trading will surge in the years ahead.

Brazil's attainment of investment grade status in April -- a recognition of the emerging giant's growth prospects and debt reduction -- spurred another surge of investor interest.

The volume traded through home brokers hit 36.8 billion reais ($22.5 billion) in May, up 32 percent from April, according to Agora.

Amid the excitement, though, clouds are forming as inflation heads higher and the economy starts to cool.

The Bovespa index -- whose fortunes remain heavily tied to global demand for Brazil's commodities -- is finally showing signs of catching the rest of the world's cold with an 11 percent drop in June. Last year's red-hot IPO market has virtually dried up.

A proliferation of advertisements in newspapers and magazines offering too-good-to-be-true returns on stocks suggests some people may be vulnerable to a downturn.

But the number of investors relative to Brazil's 185 million population remains tiny, leaving much room for growth in the longer term.

"The penetration rate is still very low," said Marco Melo, head of research at Agora.

CLUBBING TOGETHER

Driving the investment boom has been a steep fall in interest rates. Current rates around 12 percent may seem high by international standards but that kind of return in a savings account is "peanuts" for Brazilians who not long ago could get 25 percent on government bonds, Portinho said. The costs of opening and managing a trading account have also plummeted.

The days in the early 1990s when annual inflation hit more than 1,000 percent have left their scars on investors, however. Experts say many lack financial expertise and are wary of straying from big names like mining giant Vale and oil firm Petrobras.

"People are not well educated," said Hissa. "Not only in stocks, but in their finances -- people spend all their money, borrow a lot of money and pay 10-20 times in (high-interest) instalments."

Lacking trading savvy, many Brazilians are turning to investment clubs to tap into others' expertise. There were 2,372 investment clubs in Brazil as of March, doubling from the end of 2005, with total investments of about 15 billion reais ($9.2 billion).

Members pay a small fee to the brokerage, which takes care of the accounting. About 20 percent of Brazilian individual investors use clubs, according to the INI, compared to less than 5 percent in the United States.

"I don't have much economic knowledge to decide which stock to buy," said Gilson Moura, a 38-year-old health insurance executive who invests about 500 reais ($300) a month through his Rio investment club. "(Aircraft maker) Embraer and Vale would be easy choices but maybe I can get a better result in the long term with a club."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUKN1247806420080625

Rio, Brazil, Finds Key to Sell Fashion Overseas: Invention

One of the dresses is all printed. From afar, the white and black print looks like comic strips. From up close, it is possible to tell that they are emblems of Alice in Wonderland and Robinson Crusoe, with a few strokes of paint. It has ruffles and shoulder straps, pretty-and-happy-lady style.

The other dress is green-tinged, made of light cloth, and leaves one shoulder bare. It is short and gives a glimpse, almost unwillingly, of another dress underneath, of blue and red superimposed cloth, with a hood. She is a sensual young woman.

The two pieces described above are part of collections textile mills based in the southeastern Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro and provide examples of the creative fashion style that Rio creates. Besides quality, it is the obsession with invention, lots of it, that warrants Rio-based mills the highest value added exports in Brazil.

The first dress is by Cantão, a company from Rio that exports to seven countries. The second one is by Espaço Fashion, also from Rio, which is now preparing to export its items to Portugal and Spain.

"The Rio lifestyle influences our creations. The feminine character, lightness and freshness are typical of our city, and feature in our collections," says Bianca Bastos, partner and managing director at Espaço Fashion.

The director at brand Cantão, Renata Mancini, asserts that lightness, comfort, and lots of color, which characterize Rio, are also present in the company's designs. The clothing items that Cantão exports, according to Renata, are precisely those featuring prints and embroidery. "The ones with the most artisanship," she says.

In order to stand out in the domestic and foreign markets, Cantão invests heavily in design. The company has a general direction, in terms of style, but it also has a specific designer for each of the segments in which it operates: jeans, blouses, cloth, footwear, and accessories.

Cantão exports since 2003 and its products reach Portugal, Australia, Japan, United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, Italy and United States. The company has an annual output of 1.4 million items, approximately 2% of which go to the foreign market.

Espaço Fashion, which has just closed its first export deal, is preparing to ship 15% of production abroad. "We are deeply concerned with associating design, quality and trends to our fashion products. At the same time, we are constantly working on our image, from merchandising to advertising campaigns, so as to reaffirm our position and, of course, attract gazes," says Bianca.

The company owns 16 stores and two franchises in Brazil, and also sells at 150 multi-brand stores.

The international success achieved by the two brands confirms a survey held by the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Firjan). The study points out that the state has the highest average export pricing for the segment in Brazil.

The foreign market pays US$ 79.36 per kilogram of clothing manufactured in Rio. This is part of the state's strategy of making higher quality products, according to the advisor at the Firjan International Business center, João Paulo Alcântara Gomes.

Gomes explains that three factors contribute for the state's textile mills to sell higher value-added products: investment in design, product durability, and market access strategy.

The Firjan survey shows that 73.41% of fashion exports from Rio went to developed countries in the first four months this year. Considering only those markets, average price for one kilogram reached US$ 93.05. The European Union pays US$ 115.37 for each kilogram of products from the state of Rio.

This strategy has led the state to perform above the national average for fashion exports. Whereas Brazilian foreign sales decreased 12.21% in the first four months this year compared with the same period in 2007, mills from Rio increased their exports by 3.83%.

During the period, Rio answered to 12.24% of the country's clothing exports. According to Gomes, the textile industry in Rio is mainly comprised of small enterprises.

http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/9467/1/

Billionaire Eike Batista Keeps SLR McLaren in Rio Living Room

Eike Batista sits in the boardroom of his mining company, MMX Mineracao e Metalicos SA, overlooking Rio de Janeiro's Sugarloaf Mountain, a vitamin cocktail dripping into his left arm to stave off aging.

The intravenous bag is hanging on the pole of the green, yellow and blue Brazilian flag that stands next to the 51-year-old multibillionaire. Batista's focus isn't on the drip but on a deluge of decisions, including how to seal a $5.5 billion sale of two iron ore mines to London-based Anglo American Plc, according to Paulo Gouvea, an MMX executive who was present that January evening.

In rapid succession, according to Gouvea, Batista picks a color scheme via mobile phone for his yacht's upholstery (white and pink will do), checks his laptop computer, orders an aide to sell $200 million of unidentified shares, gets a phone briefing on the upscale Chinese restaurant he owns in Rio and reminds his assistant to book the eatery's private room for ``dinner with Cynthia,'' Anglo American Chief Executive Officer Cynthia Carroll.

Even as his businesses contend with environmental complaints, Batista is riding a wealth-creation wave in Brazil unlike few others in Latin America. Soaring commodity exports such as iron ore, which gives Batista most of his revenue, have helped the region's largest economy break a cycle of boom and bust.

The value of Brazilian exports had tripled as of May 31 from Jan. 1, 2003, and the benchmark Bovespa stock index jumped six-fold during the same period. The son of a former government minister and executive, Eike Fuhrken Batista is now probably Brazil's richest man.

`Not Afraid'

``I think big, and I'm not afraid to take risks -- even if I'm alone,'' Batista says during an interview in his Rio office. ``I started out in the gold business. I know about risk and loss and having to build a business from scratch when nobody believes in you.''

Batista, who favors pink ties and dark suits and sprinkles his Portuguese with English phrases like ``a win-win situation,'' is reveling in the prospect of greater wealth. In January, he told the Sao Paulo newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo: ``I want to surpass Bill Gates in five years. Brazil has to be No. 1.''

Gates, the Microsoft Corp. co-founder, owned 813.6 million shares in the software giant as of a May 14 regulatory filing, giving him a stake valued at about $22.9 billion as of June 20. Batista's investments in mining, power, oil, real estate, logistics, entertainment and forestry give him an empire of roughly $17 billion.

In April, Batista netted $3.5 billion with the sale of mines to Anglo American, his third 10-figure payoff in two years from companies he built. He added 6.7 billion reais ($4.2 billion) to his fortune after selling shares in June in his new oil company, OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes SA, and he stands to gain at least $1 billion in a planned offering of his logistics business, LLX Logistica SA.

`Quintessential Multitasker'

``He's the quintessential multitasker,'' says Gouvea, 33, corporate finance director at MMX, Batista's flagship publicly traded corporation. ``He is the only person I know who can have control of several deals at once and still be thinking about making money with really good ideas.''

Superstition helps too, Batista says. All of his company names -- EBX, MMX, OGX, LLX -- contain the letter ``x,'' for the multiplication of wealth in numerology, which holds that there is a mystical relationship between people's lives and letters and numbers. A golden sun logo, representing energy, wealth and optimism, according to Incan mythology, adorns the pink and gold flag of his yacht, the Pink Fleet, which ferries tourists around Rio's Guanabara Bay. The logo also shows up on his business cards and the china at his Rio restaurant, Mr. Lam.

Investment-Grade Rating

Batista hasn't needed luck to attract foreign investors. Brazil's economy is growing fast -- 5.8 percent in the first quarter following a 6.2 percent pace in the fourth quarter of 2007 -- amid rising consumer spending and foreign investment. Standard & Poor's in April granted an investment-grade rating to Brazil's sovereign debt, and Fitch Ratings followed in May.

Strong domestic demand and easier credit will insulate the local economy against a global slowdown and sudden drops in commodity prices, says John Praveen, chief investment strategist at Newark, New Jersey-based Prudential International Investments Advisers LLC, which manages about $630 billion.

``These are the conditions creating that kind of wealth for Mr. Batista,'' Praveen says.

Batista says he is capitalizing on the nation's relative stability.

``I'm part of a new generation of entrepreneurs who can access capital markets, who don't have to go to the government for funding, who can take on a lot more risk and see business pay off,'' says the green-eyed Batista, who's divorced from Luma de Oliveira, a former model and queen of Rio de Janeiro's Carnival parades.

Company His Father Ran

Brazil's currency, the real, has almost doubled in value against the U.S. dollar during the past four years. Inflation has collapsed from almost 5,000 percent in 1994 to 5.58 percent in May.

The Bovespa's rise has been led by Cia. Vale do Rio Doce, which is the world's largest iron ore exporter and the company Batista's father ran, and Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the state-controlled oil company known as Petrobras. Last year, Petrobras announced the biggest discoveries of crude in the Western Hemisphere in the past three decades.

Relatively low interest rates fueled growth, too. During the two years ended on Sept. 30, 2007, Brazil's central bank lowered the benchmark Selic lending rate 18 times to a record low of 11.25 percent from 19.75 percent, the longest easing cycle since the rate was adopted in 1999. The rate is currently 12.25 percent.

International Reserves

Brazil became a net foreign creditor in January after international reserves surged to a record $171.6 billion, leaving behind its decades-old status of biggest debtor among emerging markets. Reserves reached $198 billion on May 30.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, president since 2003, bolstered confidence by reducing the budget deficit and allowing the central bank to operate independently, Praveen says.

Batista isn't the only Brazilian billionaire riding the wave. Rubens Ometto, 58, controlling shareholder and CEO of Cosan SA Industria e Comercio, the world's biggest sugar cane processor, has increased the company's capacity 10-fold in the past two decades. In 2006, Andre Esteves, then 38, became Brazil's youngest self-made billionaire when he sold his Banco Pactual SA investment bank to Zurich- based UBS AG for $2.6 billion, plus a $500 million retention package for about 80 UBS and Pactual employees. Esteves ran UBS's Latin American business until June.

Some investors say the real has come too far too fast. Marcelo Carvalho, chief economist in Brazil for Morgan Stanley, predicts a 4.5 percent drop in the currency this year amid a surge in imports. In late May, Brazil's central bank forecast a current account shortfall of $1.5 billion for that month, down from a surplus of $3.31 billion in April.

Cancelled Share Offerings

Another hitch: Share offerings have been hit by a wave of cancellations. Twenty-seven companies postponed or withdrew initial public offerings this year through June 20, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Investors abandoned the IPO market after the U.S. subprime crisis increased aversion to emerging-market assets.

Batista's appetite for risk -- and for oil -- is helping him buck the IPO trend. After plowing capital into gold mines in the 1980s and '90s and then into nickel, copper, iron ore and several nonmining businesses in subsequent years, Batista's new bet is offshore crude. The 6.7 billion reais that OGX raised in the June IPO will finance offshore oil development. The company, created last year, was valued at 35 billion reais after one of Brazil's biggest share sales.

Offshore Oil Fields

In a November auction for oil exploration rights, Batista spent $800 million for 21 offshore fields that hold potential reserves of 4.8 billion barrels, according to DeGolyer & MacNaughton, a Dallas-based petroleum appraisal firm.

The same month, Petrobras said the nearby Tupi oil field contained 5 billion-8 billion barrels of oil, the biggest find in the Americas since 1976. And in April, Brazil's oil regulator said the Carioca field, in the same vicinity, may contain as much as 33 billion barrels.

The announcements fueled share gains at Petrobras, which was the world's sixth-largest company as of June 20, surpassing Microsoft, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and AT&T Inc.

``He is a guy that's not afraid of risks, and that in Brazil is truly rare,'' says Francisco Gros, vice chairman of the board of OGX and a former Petrobras CEO.

When OGX was created in September 2007 and failed to attract the $500 million planned for its startup, Batista took $370 million from his own pocket, Gros says. In mid-February, Batista donated his 30 percent stake in Brazilian and Chilean power plants -- valued at as much as $1 billion -- to minority shareholders in his power company, MPX Energia SA, to make up for losses since a December share sale.

Reassuring Investors

Batista said in a Bloomberg interview on Feb. 20 that he wanted to reassure investors such as Boston-based Fidelity Latin America Fund that he believed in the projects. Gros says such moves give Batista credibility.

While he pursues commodities riches, Batista also has large construction projects on the drawing board. He said in September that he planned to raise at least $800 million by selling a stake in LLX to build two port complexes in Brazil. One north of Rio would ship iron ore, ethanol and general cargo. Another near Sao Paulo would be a container port.

The ports and other business pursuits have drawn the attention of regulators, and some say Batista cuts corners or breaks rules to get things done in a country known for bureaucratic red tape.

Fined Three Times

His MMX mining company has been fined three times since mid- 2007 for buying charcoal produced from wood in areas where logging was restricted, according to documents from Brazil's environmental agency, known as Ibama.

In 2007, the federal police, the national Labor Prosecutors' Office and Ibama discovered that MMX was buying charcoal from an Indian reservation to feed its pig-iron plant near Corumba, in the heart of Brazil's Pantanal region, says Ricardo Pinheiro Lima, Ibama's chief in Mato Grosso do Sul state.

The Pantanal is the world's largest freshwater wetlands, 10 times the size of Florida's Everglades, according to the Arlington, Virginia-based Nature Conservancy.

MMX was fined 1 million reais twice in 2007 and 3 million reais this year.

``Unfortunately, by law we cannot apply bigger fines, but we are watching what they are doing,'' Lima says. ``We are stopping truckloads of illegal charcoal from feeding MMX's plant, and that's already a victory.''

An appeal by MMX is pending. The company didn't know the charcoal was coming from an Indian reservation, MMX spokesman Alexandre Falcao says.

Environmental Impact

In March, state public defender Thiago Tozzi filed a civil suit in the northeastern state of Ceara that accuses MPX and the state's environmental agency, Semace, with failing to produce a proper environmental impact study for a 700-megawatt coal-fired power plant, court documents show.

``What the company called the study was a sales pitch for the project,'' Tozzi says. ``It showed how Batista completely disregards legislation and has no respect for Brazilian society.''

Gouvea says Batista follows the rules.

``You will always have people protesting, complaining,'' he says. ``That's not unusual.'' Gouvea says the billionaire's team receives permits quickly because it's simply more efficient. ``We have a 360-degree vision of projects, and we are prepared to handle the challenges,'' he says.

LLX is in a battle over Batista's port plan at Peruibe, on the coast of Sao Paulo state. Tupi-Guarani Indians there accuse logistics company employees of coercion and trying to bribe them into leaving the land LLX needs to build the $2.5 billion port. Three federal prosecutors filed a civil complaint on April 24 that seeks an order condemning LLX for acts aimed at taking possession of Indian land.

Indians' Claims

Brazil's National Indian Foundation, or Funai, is trying to get the government to confer Indian reservation status on the 2,840- hectare (7,000-acre) oceanfront property, called Piacaguera, says Cristiano Hutter, the foundation's chief in Peruibe. He says the foundation has accepted the Indians' claims that their ancestors lived on the land for centuries. Funai has sent the request to Brazil's Justice Ministry for approval.

No date has been set for a decision, and a federal judge has ruled that LLX can't start construction until the matter is resolved.

Batista says the Indians aren't originally from the area and only recently settled there for economic reasons. He wants to move them to a farm he plans to buy 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the coast.

Records Back to 1553

At Peruibe's history museums, photos of Tupi-Guarani huts on the Piacaguera land in 1942 illustrate a section of the exhibit called Native Roots. Funai says there are records of the Indians on the land that date as far back as 1553.

As the Indians tell it, Jose Salomao Fadlalah, LLX's development director, made false promises to induce them to leave the land. He's named in the prosecutors' complaint, which says Fadlalah hired Funai employees and Indians as consultants to try to deceive other Indians to pack up and leave.

``He told us we should just accept whatever they offered, that we had lost the land, and those who didn't accept the proposal would be left with nothing,'' says Miriam dos Santos as she breastfeeds her 1-month-old daughter, Camile.

Fadlalah says that LLX hired consultants but denies they were instructed to lie or bribe the Indians. ``We really believe that our proposal is very beneficial to the families,'' he says.

Fadlalah says that from an environmental and legal point of view, the project is ``completely viable.''

``The area is not an Indian reservation, and it's not land where Indians have traditionally lived,'' he says.

His Father's Stories

Batista had experience with mining's challenges from a young age. He was born in the mining state of Minas Gerais and grew up hearing stories about iron ore, railroads and ports from his father, Eliezer Batista da Silva. Now 84, his father was a civil engineer who started working at Vale in 1949 and became CEO in 1961. He was also Brazil's mines minister in 1962 and '63. Da Silva moved to Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1968, and later to Brussels, to expand Vale's international operations. He returned to Rio in 1979, serving as CEO until 1986. The state-owned company was privatized in 1997.

Batista says his father, now an MMX board member, wasn't at home for most of his childhood and that his disciplined German mother, who died in 2000, was a large influence. Batista moved with the family to Germany and at 18 enrolled at RWTH Aachen University, where he earned a degree in metallurgical engineering. He says he discovered an entrepreneurial talent while selling insurance policies in Aachen to supplement his student allowance.

Gold and Precious Stones

Back in Brazil in the early '80s, Batista joined a gold rush near the southern Amazon city of Alta Floresta. He worked as an intermediary in the gold and precious stones trade, finding buyers in Sao Paulo and Rio and keeping 5 percent of the deals as a fee.

``When I was 24, I bought my first gold mine,'' Batista told an audience of business leaders in Sao Paulo on April 28. ``The mine was so rich that it was almost idiotproof.''

Batista says he made $6 million in his first year. He says he dealt with wildcat gold panners in the jungle and once had a bodyguard shoot and kill a man who drew a gun during a money dispute.

Soon after, he decided to mechanize production. He lost a few million dollars in the process, as the mine was located in a remote area and accessible only by airplane. He says he underestimated the logistics.

``I made many mistakes,'' Batista told the business group. ``I lost money; I even had to buy an old DC-3 to transport equipment to the mine, but in the end I made it work.''

Two other gold mine ventures followed, both through partnerships.

`Really Exciting'

``Looking for good-quality assets and attracting partners to help you add value to them is really exciting,'' Batista told the audience in Sao Paulo.

In the late '90s, after buying mining ventures in Brazil, Canada, Chile and Greece, and investing at home in a cosmetics company, a jeep maker and a courier service, Batista says he lost almost $500 million, and decided to settle for good in Brazil and dedicate his energy to iron ore. MMX was the first company created under Batista's EBX holding company. That year, 2005, iron ore prices averaged $32.63 per metric ton. By 2007, the price had jumped to $45.33 and rose 65 percent to $75 early this year. MMX's share price has soared almost sixfold to 59.75 reais on June 20 from 10 reais at the IPO in July 2006.

Batista's superstitious bent extends beyond company names. De Oliveira, his ex-wife, says he picked their sons' names -- Thor and Olin -- because they have four letters, which signifies strength in numerology. Batista's lucky number is 63. All of his bids in the oil licensing auction ended with 63 cents, and the contract with Anglo American was for a precise figure, down to 63 cents, a March 31 company filing shows.

`Believes in Luck'

``Eike believes in luck, in positive and negative energies,'' de Oliveira said in e-mailed responses to questions. ``He is superstitious like any Brazilian.''

Batista's personal life has been colorful, even by Brazilian standards. In 1991, he eloped with de Oliveira a week before his planned wedding to a socialite.

During the 13-year marriage, de Oliveira posed nude for male magazines, including Playboy. In 1999, Batista paid an undisclosed fee to Playboy after he persuaded de Oliveira to cancel a photo shoot, according to her brother and agent, Mem de Oliveira. Batista declined to comment.

``He first tried to make me gain weight, giving me chocolates, showing up at home with my favorite milkshake every day,'' she said in the e-mail.

$250 Million Divorce

In 2004, de Oliveira left Batista for a fireman, according to stories splashed on the covers of Brazil's main newspapers. She denies it and says the separation was consensual. She received $250 million in the divorce, according to the weekly newsmagazine Veja.

De Oliveira won't comment on the amount, saying only that Batista was always ``very generous.''

After the separation, Batista bought her a house a few meters from his own. He often spends time there with his sons, who are 16 and 12. The former couple still have a strong friendship, she says.

His current girlfriend is Flavia Sampaio, a 27-year-old lawyer who is also a model, according to Veja magazine. Batista declined to comment on his personal life.

What he doesn't spend on ports and similar big construction ventures, Batista pours into pet projects to beautify Rio, a city he says has the potential to become a true business capital even though it's riddled with crime and poverty. Rio is one of the world's most violent cities, where 6,113 people were murdered in 2007, according to data from the state's Security Secretariat.

`A Wonderful City'

``This is where I want to raise my children and grandchildren because it's truly a wonderful city,'' says Batista, who is fluent in German and speaks English with ease. ``My family and I use an armored car to go around, but I don't think it will be like this forever.''

Asked if he isn't afraid to wear his gold Rolex watch in Rio, Batista scoffs. ``We can't do things differently just because the city has a crime problem,'' he says. Batista isn't shy about telling the media that he owns a $26 million Embraer Legacy 600 business jet, a $19 million Pershing 115 luxury yacht and a $1.7 million speedboat whose engines have to be changed after each race. In the living room of his mansion in Rio's Jardim Botanico neighborhood, Batista has parked a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. The latest model lists for about $500,000.

Flaunting his wealth might be fun for now. It may seem less sporting, though, should complaints from federal prosecutors and fearful Indians gain traction--or demand for Brazil's abundant resources take a fall.

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