Pantanal Escapes

This YouTube video is promotion of the annual festival of Cururu and Sirirí held each September in Cuiabá, the state capital of Mato Grosso. Siriri is a dance traditionally performed in the remote rural and river communities of Brazil's central-west - and is especially typical of Mato Grosso. Siriri has re-gained a significant following in recent years thanks to large festivals and shows such as this one. The accompanying music played on a regional guitar-like viola de cocho. Cururu is another dance, which is performed in a wheel only by men, mixing Portuguese, African and Indigenous rhythms..

Note that Siriri more than just a dance. It stems from the same tradition as Bumba-meu-boi practiced in the Brazilian Northeast, and which also gave birth to the spectacular carnaval-like Boi Bumbá in the Amazon region of Parintins. In all three festivals have a common theme built around the story of a bull (representing prosperity) and the history of the regions' inhabitants.