Sao Paulo, Aug 29 (IANS/EFE) Ricky Martin, Julieta Venegas, Los Van Van and other Hispanic artists captivated their Brazilian audiences with a powerful, variegated dose of Latin music at a series of concerts in Sao Paulo.


In one of the local public's most eagerly awaited concerts this year, Ricky Martin took the stage Friday night at Credicard Hall in Sao Paulo, his first appearance in the country since announcing he is gay and with a show that kicked off his "Musica + Alma + Sexo" (Music + Soul + Sex) tour of a number of Brazilian cities.

The singer of top international hits like "Livin' La Vida Loca" and "Maria", in great physical shape and dressed in leather, literally let himself go during his explosive presentation.

His concert tour of Brazil will end Tuesday at the Gigantinho coliseum in Porto Alegre.

A few miles away from the Ricky Martin concert in Sao Paulo, the city's Jockey Club vibrated Friday to the Caribbean rhythms of Juan Formell and Los Van Van, this time backed by the versatile Brazilian musician Carlinhos Brown.

The Cuban sound of Los Van Van and the "racket" of Carlinhos Brown's happy drums got people up and dancing in the audience at the third day of the international Latin music festival "Telefonica Sonidos."

The third night of the festival had begun with the acclaimed performance of Mexico's Julieta Venegas, who vocalised the songs from her latest work "Despedida" (She Was Told Goodbye) and faves from her repertoire like "Limon y Sal" (Lemon and Salt) and "Algun Dia" (Someday).

As she wound up her show, Venegas called onstage Marisa Monte, with whom she made the 2008 recording of "Ilusion" (Hope) and who now sang with the Mexican star another two songs including "Soy Loco por Ti, America" (I'm Crazy About You, America), a composition in "Portuñol" - a mix of Portuguese and Spanish - by singer-songwriter Gilberto Gil.