In states like Bahia visitors can get an amazing taste of Afro-Brazilian culture in cities such as Fortaleza and the colony's first capital, Salvador, where more than 80 percent of the population is listed as multiracial including African ancestry. You can get a great sense of this at its Archaeology and Ethnology Museum and especially its annex, the the Afro-Brazilian Museum. But much of it you can experience even in the streets and cafés, by taking in performances of music and capoeira (pcitured here), the martial-arts-dance hybrid developed by slaves and now seeing a renaissance both for reasons of cultural pride and the fact that it’s become a tourist draw. Afro-Brazilian heritage tours are also available, even including services of candomblé (essentially traditional African religion with a once protective overlay of Christianity, not unlike Haiti's voudon and Cuba's santería).
(And by the way, in this pic, if you look closely, that's me on the tamborine lol)
Read more about African-derived culture in Brazil and elsewhere in my post 12 Top Destinations for African Diaspora Travel.
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