reggae cruise sao luis

Inside São Luis: Brazil's Capital Of Reggae Music And Culture

In the city of São Luis, Maranhão, Reggae is the most popular music genre. It is considered Brazil's reggae land since 1980s.

Brunno Braga • Jun 30, 2021

Brazil is known for Samba and Bossa Nova; Hip-Hop and Rock music are also popular. However, in the city of São Luis, Maranhão , none of these music genres are as popular as Reggae. It is even considered Brazil’s reggae land.

In the city, located in Brazil’s northeastern region, the Jamaican music style rules in every corner. Several local reggae bands, radio stations, parties and festivals and even a museum are dedicated to Reggae.

There are a few theories that can explain this phenomenon. One of them is the number of Afro-descendents in São Luis, which is the second-Blackest city in Brazil , after Salvador. Its proximity to the Caribbean is another factor which explains the connection between São Luis and the Caribbean culture.

“Reggae music emerged in São Luis in the mid-1970s,” Carlos Benedito Rodrigues Da Silva, Anthropology Professor at Federal University of Maranhão, told Travel Noire. “It is possible to find several explanations for the strong identification of the population of São Luis with reggae. In the late 1960s, some city locals started to tune Caribbean stations. Through them, they found some cultural similarities as a result of their colonialist and slavery processes in both Jamaica and São Luís. Surely, similar cultural expressions would have been transplanted to these two regions in the forced African diaspora.”

Da Silva is an expert of São Luis culture and author of the book Da Terra das Primaveras para a Ilha do Amor: Reggae, Lazer e Identidade Cultural (From the Land of Springs to the Island of Love: Reggae, Leisure and Cultural Identity, Only available in Portuguese).

Since then, Reggae has become very popular among Black people in the ghettos of São Luis.

For him, reggae has become a very strong and legitimate vehicle for mobilizing and identifying the low-income Black population that has inhabited the city’s squatter settlements since the 1970s.

Before that, foreign music didn’t have much penetration in this region, especially from Europe or the US. The Merengue and Calypso, very popular music styles in the region, were imported from Guyana and other regions of the Caribbean. Those music styles ended up becoming a very cultivated rhythm in São Luis, establishing diverse exchanges and influencing new musical trends.

One of the important factors for the dissemination of reggae in São Luís is the existence of the so-called radiolas, sophisticated sound-systems. Operated by a DJ, the radiolas became popular to liven up parties in Black communities.

It was in 1975 that the pioneer Riba Macedo bought his first reggae records. And then, it started to appear at the parties.

“I played Jesse Green, Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker, Toots and so on,” Macedo told to a local newspaper.

The scene that developed from there was mainly based on a taste for rhythm. The typical beat of Jamaican music, over-amplified and distributed among a growing number of loudspeakers, seduced the crowd at local parties. Also, they were also seduced by the reggae environment, as the reggae fans from the city identified themselves with the way Jamaicans were portrayed on records, with photos of life in the ghetto, marijuana, problems of Black people with the police and so on.

In the mid-1980s, radio stations realized the power of reggae among locals, and began to broadcast the music, increasing the number of fans.

“With reggae ruling all over São Luis, business-owners and even politicians began to use reggae for advertisements or political campaigns,” reveals Da Silva.

Today, Reggae is part of tourism in São Luis. International festivals are led by Jamaican reggae bands. Local parties, bars and local reggae bands are also part of this universe.

In 2018, the city’s government opened The Reggae Museum, the only museum of its kind outside Jamaica.

“This museum is an important site for promoting the value of reggae culture in São Luís. It becomes yet another strong and unprecedented tourist attraction that can contribute to a lot to the economy and even demystify the prejudiced conception built around reggae,” said Da Silva.

According to Reggae Museum director Ademar Danilo, the place attracted more than 50,000 visitors since 2018 .

“The Reggae Museum has a very positive tourist and cultural impact in the city,” he said in the official Maranhão government website.

The Museum of Reggae of Maranhão has five rooms. In the Hall of Immortals, the spaces were designed to honor the great names of reggae in history. In the other four venues, the reggae clubs of São Luís are honored: Pop Som Club, the Toque de Amor Club, the União do BF Club and the Espaço Aberto Club.

Because of the pandemic, all outdoor activities were suspended. But as soon as the city gets back to normal, the reggae music may rule São Luis’ streets once again.

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Douro River Cruise: Our Review of Uniworld’s Trip Through Portugal’s Top Wine Region

What to expect on a river cruise through Portugal's most storied wine region

By Heidi Sarna

September 6, 2024

Heidi Sarna is the co-founder of QuirkyCruise.com , a guide to small-ship cruising .

The Douro River starts in north-central Spain and zigzags some 500 miles into Portugal before eventually reaching the Atlantic Ocean. Along the way, the curving, rock-lined river cuts through a landscape characterized, above all, by its connection to generations of winemaking.

A cruise along the Douro provides not only a chance to encounter medieval fortress towns and sample the region's renowned port and other wines, but also to appreciate, as you travel along the waterway, the sheer beauty of the surrounding hillsides covered in a patchwork quilt of vineyards along with cork oak, olive, and fig trees.

I recently spent a week aboard Uniworld’s  SS São Gabriel , a luxury ship launched in 2021 for the exclusive purpose of cruising Portugal’s Douro River Valley. Journeying 250 miles round trip from Porto, the ship accommodates up to 100 passengers and is just 262 feet long. To fit into the five lock chambers along the route, all ships on the river are about half the length of boats plying other European waterways like the Rhine and Danube. 

It's easy to make friends among the small contingent of passengers as you take day tours or mingle in the ship's lounge at happy hour and at mealtime in the open-seating restaurant. Among the most high-end river cruise lines operating in Europe, Uniworld offers all-inclusive fares covering meals, drinks, gratuities, and daily excursions.

Douro River Cruise Excursions: Vineyards, Medieval Towns, and So Much Port

Armed with personal VOX listening devices, Uniworld passengers on walking tours go on included visits to vineyards, museums, and medieval cathedrals. Some guides are Uniworld tour staff members—our cruise manager, Ricardo, was a passionate and knowledgeable lecturer, superior to his more junior colleagues—while at other times local guides do the honors.

Certain excursions start within strolling distance of the ship, though most require a 20- to 60-minute bus ride on winding roads with breathtaking views of the countryside. 

The overriding themes of onshore activities: Portugal’s winemaking history and the legacies of ancient Romans, Moors, and Jews. I greatly enjoyed the Douro Museum , housed in an 18th-century restored warehouse in Régua . The experience includes an illuminating lecture from a local winemaker and a fascinating video showing old footage of the Douro before the locks were built in the 1930s. Back then, the landscape would get superdry in the summer and flood wildly at other times.

The film shows grape pickers carrying huge 100-pound baskets on their backs in the scorching heat, breaking up shale rock by hand to make the soil habitable for grape growing, and loading traditional wooden rabelo cargo boats with wine to transport from the vineyards to the coast.

Also on the itinerary is a visit to the ornate Our Lady of Remedies chapel, set beautifully at the top of a long Baroque staircase in Lamego . Another we day we traveled to Castelo Rodrigo , a medieval fortress town in the hills above the river valley. 

On a sweltering day later in the week, guides led us through the hillside vineyards of the Croft wine estate Quinta de São Luiz . A bus tour across the border to Salamanca, Spain , involves a guided stroll through the old quarter, a UNESCO World Heritage Site home to the 18th-century Plaza Mayor and the massive New Cathedral dating from the 1500s.

With some free time to spare, climb the 200 steps of Salamanca's Scala Coeli (“Stairway to Heaven” in Latin) at the 17th-century Jesuit church and school for sweeping views of the city.

Just about every tour during the cruise includes an opportunity to taste Portuguese wine—often port. Pace yourself or you might get tired of the sweet fortified stuff after a few days. 

Moored in pretty Porto for half a day at the beginning and end of the cruise, you'll have time to explore that coastal city, too. Among the highlights are the winding, cobbled streets of the historic Ribeira district, the famous golden interior of the Church of São Francisco , and the grand São Bento train station. 

While in the city, Uniworld's São Gabriel ship occupies a prime river-facing spot (not sandwiched between other riverboats) with views of Porto's red-tiled roofs, fortress-like Porto Cathedral , and double-deck Dom Luís I Bridge .

Uniworld's Douro River Cruise: Onboard Amenities, Meals, Staterooms, and Service

Uniworld’s décor is chic, with lots of local touches. The São Gabriel has flooring inspired by Portugal’s famous ceramic tiles, polished wood in chevron patterns, and seating with rich fabrics.

Elegant staterooms are designed in shades of teal and champagne with light woods. You'll find tufted headboards, fresh flowers, and Portuguese tiles worked into the marble-clad bathrooms.

Suites on Deck 3 are spacious—ours had 220 square feet—while cabins on the two lower decks are a compact 156 square feet apiece.

A pair of butlers are on hand to indulge suite guests’ whims and fancies—say, pre-dinner prosecco and potato chips delivered to your room—but even if you're staying elsewhere on the ship you can expect efficient and friendly service from the mostly Protuguese staff (shout-out again to our cruise manager, Ricardo, who wears many hats with aplomb). 

The ship's bright, welcoming restaurant features open seating with tables for two, four, and six. Owing in part to the large windows in the space, the dining area doesn't feel as cramped as on some other riverboats.

Breakfast and lunch are served at the buffet. At midday, standouts include a delicious salad with shrimp and pineapple, another salad combining tropical fruit with hearts of palm, and Portugal's beloved  francesinha sandwich (thick white bread with ham, sausage, steak, and lots of cheese). At dinner, try the cod with chickpeas and turnips.

During lunch and dinner, choose from two different easy-drinking red and white wines from Douro Valley winemakers such as Assobio and Porrais. On our cruise, the ship’s sommelier went from table to table, enthusiastically detailing each bottle's attributes.

Evening entertainment in the ship's lounge may range from flamenco (which isn't Portuguese) to the melancholy folk music known as fado (which very much is). A '70s-themed dance party one evening was popular on my cruise; likewise for dancing under the stars up on deck.

During the day, onboard activities will keep you busy with cooking demos (pick up pointers on how to re-create the Portuguese custard tarts known as pastéis de nata ), more port tastings, and lectures about Portugal’s politics, history, and culture. 

The outdoor wading pool up on deck is a great place to cool off and chat with new friends while gazing at the views. There is also a gym and mini spa.

Overall, drawbacks are few. Space is tight in those cabins down on Decks 1 and 2, with some passengers saying there's barely enough room to get around the bed. And other guests have griped that service at dinner can be slow. But that's about it in the complaints department. 

All-inclusive Douro River cruises operated by Uniworld start at $4,949 per person. For more information, go to Uniworld.com . 

Other lines offering similar itineraries include Tauck and AmaWaterways , the two lines most similar to Uniworld with regard to price and quality. Viking ,  CroisiEurope —  and Avalon Wateways  all have Portugal trips as well. 

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