St. George is the patron saint of Rio de Janeiro and is also closely associated with samba music. He seems to be a very popular saint here – so much so that the 23rd of April is a public holiday in Rio. On Thursday local restaurant ABCD held a traditional feijoãda and samba party to mark St. George’s day this year and invited us down to play. We played a 25-minute set of brass and percussion to a very animated packed house composed mainly of the families of the children:

As British readers will be aware, St. George is also the patron saint of England. For that reason it was a nice touch that the event was also attended by representatives of the British Consulate-General in Rio de Janeiro Naira de Almeida Prado and Caroline Luymar.

Many thanks to Claudio from Restaurante ABCD for the invite and for feeding us all, and congratulations to the children and staff on a great show!