Special thanks to Susanna Melo for writing this blog entry.

After finding a place to stay for the night, we walked through the mostly deserted streets of Sao Joao del Rei in search of the historic district. We soon observed that in this large town/small city, the shops closed on Saturday afternoon. The place was dead! Then we heard a trombone playing. We followed the sound to Bar Santo Antonio. This place was hopping!

The small, narrow bar was packed with men having fun improvising Brazilian popular music on mostly improvised instruments.  The beer and “caipirinhas” fueled their animated spirits. As soon as we arrived, the men made room for us. Needless to say, the cameras came out.  They might have felt like movie stars; we felt thrilled to be part of this local, genuine and “ethnographic” experience.

Geraldo played a trombone.  His nickname is “mestre” (master) because years ago…