Pele No 10, Carlinhos No 1 as Brazil rocks Expo

A Brazilian performer opens his arms to embrace one of the audience members at a function to mark the National Pavilion Day of Brazil on Thursday. [Liu Ying / Xinhua]

SHANGHAI - Pele's No 10 soccer jerseys are the hottest sellers at the Brazil Pavilion, but they were eclipsed on Thursday by demand for tickets to see Carlinhos Brown perform, as Brazil celebrated its National Pavilion Day by bringing some of its best-loved entertainers to the Expo.

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Brown, known as the founder of the Bahian percussion group Timbalada, started the day by kissing a female Chinese VIP on the cheek and dancing with Finance Minister Xie Xuren and Deputy Commissioner General of the Shanghai World Expo Chen Duqing at the opening ceremony.

Another celebrity, Mart'Nalia, who hails from a famous samba family and is huge in Rio de Janeiro, held a solo concert later at the Expo Center. During the show, bronzed tourists wearing yellow and green hats gyrated in the central aisle, proving Brazilians can't remain seated when samba is playing.

"You can't really say which is more popular in Brazil - samba or soccer," said one Brazilian ex-pat who visited the show. "But many people in the countryside don't know samba, but they're crazy about soccer, so maybe it's soccer."

Brown has spent decades promoting Brazilian music and all its African and Amerindian influences, with Billboard magazine labeling him Latin America's best record producer in the early 1990s.

He is also respected for his social activism through music. One of his most important projects is the Museum of Rhythm in his native Salvador, which acts as a repository for black rhythms from around the world, and as a fund-raising cultural center for community programs directed at disadvantaged children from the favella slums.

"China and Brazil will probably be amongst the five largest economies in the world over the next 10 years," said Alessandro Teixeira, the pavilion's Commissioner General. "Through cooperation, they can build on their strengths and develop together."

The day fell on the same week that Sao Paulo, Brazil's most-populous city, is being honored at the Expo.

The Sao Paulo Ballet will perform at the city's pavilion within the Expo's Urban Best Practices Area in Puxi on Friday along with several bands. The celebrations will extend until Saturday, after which seven films about the city will be screened at one of the two Brazilian pavilions until June 15.