Jackson do Pandeiro will be the theme of this year’s Arraial.

By Hermelino Neder

The original aim of the Beacon “Arraial” is to celebrate a Brazilian composer, performer, movement, or musical genre every year.

This year, we chose Jackson do Pandeiro!

He was the only Northeastern artist to achieve the same national recognition, both from the public and the critics, as Luiz Gonzaga. For over 30 years, from the 1940s to the end of the 1970s, both shared the attention of the Brazilian radio.

Born in the Northeast, they had a lot in common: they learned to like and produce music in their childhood, both at home – Gonzaga with his father, Jackson with his mother, moved to the national capital at the time, Rio de Janeiro, and both were called kings, the first Rei do Baião ( “King of Baião”) and the second Rei do Ritmo (“King of Rhythm”). Their repertoires are still alive, revisited all the time by Brazilian musicians in festivals and tours around the country and around the world.

Over the years, Gonzaga has established himself in the “Festas Juninas” in São Paulo, perhaps because he composed a more significant number of appropriate songs for the celebration. However, this year, Beacon, from G2 to Y10, will show how the work of the rival who became a friend perfectly matches the cultural and festive atmosphere of the Brazilian June celebrations.