For the first time in its 26 editions, the Petronio Álvarez Pacific Music Festival will have a guest nation in Brazil. The country will open the festival with the African rhythms in between, marking one of the big bets of the Festival this year.

The Petronio Álvarez is held in the city of Cali and is one of the most important events in the region, bringing together the most important cultural aspects of the area — music, gastronomy and tradition.

The Secretary of Culture of Cali, Ronald Mayorga, celebrated this historic event for the Festival and took the opportunity to make an important announcement: "Brazil begins with this joint exercise and as part of this invitation, we will have Ilê Aiyê, the first Afro section of the Carnival of Bahia, with almost 50 years of tradition of music, drums and rituals in Salvador de Bahia, which we will see in August on the stage of our Petronio Alvarez Pacific Music Festival in Cali," he said.

Mayorga emphasized that this is the beginning of a joint celebration process, with Ilê Aiyê, a traditional group from Salvador Bahia. This cultural section stands out for its music and dance at the carnivals, in addition to the educational and social development they focus on in their spaces.

This action of cultural interpenetration is carried out through the initiative of Ibraco (the Institute of Culture Brazil Colombia) and those responsible for the Petronio. On the subject, the director of Ibraco, Beatriz Miranda stressed that this is a sign of the strong bond between the two countries, where the ancestral and traditional aspect of Africa is combined.

International artists, such as Bonga Kuenda from Angola, the ballet Africa Faré from Guinea and Carlinhos Brown from Brazil have performed at the Petronio Álvarez, but this is the first time that a nation arrives at the most important music festival of the Colombian Pacific with something beyond music.

The Petronio will be held from Aug. 10 to 15 in the city of Cali, Colombia, where the cununos and marimbas will shake to the sound of the Pacific tradition. The mayor explained that the festival will not sell common products, as the idea is to highlight every last cultural detail of the region, including the food, bringing together more than 150,000 thousand people during the event.