To commemorate 100 years of Japanese emigration to Brazil, and the countries' continuing close links, taiko drummers from both cultures will be powering a huge festival set for Sao Paulo on June 21
The beats and multilayered vibrations of hundreds of drums played by 1,200 sweating men and women will stir the bodies and souls of 30,000 people at the Sambodromo samba venue in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on June 21.
But it won't be Brazil's homegrown samba drums that the crowd will be dancing and clapping to — instead, it will be Japan's traditional taiko drums driving the matsuri ("festival" in Japanese) being staged to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first Japanese emigration to Brazil.