The Olympics will be arriving shortly in Rio de Janeiro. The city is the dream of many, the despair of others, the cultural center of Brazil and for a few weeks the center of attention of all the world.

In the 1980's a Carnival song contained the lyrics "O Rio já não é mais como era antes" (Rio is not anymore what it used to be). I cannot retrieve that song anymore but I found two video's by Chico Buarque de Holanda. His name actually translates to Chico 'Boat from Holland'. The videos show a bit of Rio in the not too distant past.
Girls on the beach:


Probably the best song by the most cherished singer songwriter of Brazil
The samba is the samba of the older days. The streets are the streets of Rio.