Daniela Mercury knows the real spirit of Brazil. But she doesn’t know the emblem yet. “Where is it? Have you got it here for me to see?”, she asks at the door of the hotel room at the Ipanema seafront located in the south zone of Rio de Janeiro, in a beautiful and sunny afternoon. “I’m so curious”. Her show on the biggest stage of the Copacabana Beach, on December 31st, at the traditional New Year’s Eve party, will give the tone to the expected launch of the emblem of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The show will be stopped at 10 p.m. to make history.

“Parintins, the samba-reggae of the African descendants of Bahia and the samba schools are going to be there on the show, besides all the history of the Brazilian music. It starts with candomblé and ends in candomblé”, says the enthusiastic and renowned Bahiana singer, winner of the Latin Grammy, and who has sold more than 20 million albums all over the world. Her booming success since the beginning of the 90’s was just the start of an era of growth, development and intense and recognized participation of Brazil in the international scenario.

“Brazil is the new world. ‘Old world, while you get old I learn how to walk’ [reciting]. The old world amazed the new world with its technology, with its history. But we’ve got the technology of Europe, the rhythmic and religiosity of the African, and the kindness of the Brazilian Indians. We are a charming country, one of the most friendly people on the planet”, tell us Daniela. “And there’s more. Here, you know a foreigner and, on the next day, the person is at your place, having lunch. On the following day, the person is already invited to stay.”

The harmony that lives among the differences and the contagious energy of the people, symbolized in the traditional Copacabana New Year’s Eve party, amazes everyone. “The spontaneity of Cariocas, the ability to communicate, to talk different languages, for instance. We have this ability that other people don’t have. The ability of living with the miscegenation, with the diversity, the ability of living together. The street culture, the crowd culture, people talk to each other, hug each other, touch each other. It’s Rio de Janeiro and its religious syncretism, the Catholicism mixed with Umbanda and with Candomblé [laughs]. It’s the way we move. It’s everything.”

The conversation on the balcony of the hotel room, in front of Pedra do Arpoador, the turquoise sea and the promenade of Ipanema, sung by Vinícius de Moraes and Tom Jobim, is interrupted by the Carioca funk and the northeastern forró on the sidewalk. “Do you see that? That’s Brazil”, she says. “In a scenario like this, there’s no way to be different. The human being is the expression of its homeland. It’s hard to talk about Rio without mentioning the nature and the ocean. The people are sweet, warm, funny and happy. They were born to receive the world. Rio de Janeiro is the most beautiful city in the world, by the way. I’ve got no doubt about that. I’ve been in so many places, and there’s no city like this.”

The colour of the city and the corners of Brazil, Daniela know them well. Ambassador of UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), she has visited the entire country to take culture, education and a hope word to needy children. The valuation of the sport and the Olympic spirit, according to her, are two of the greatest legacies that the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games can leave.

“The Olympic Games, and the sport as a whole, educate people on the common living, on the appreciation of health, on human relations, on humility, educate the world to understand each other, to accept the wealth of the other. The Games educate on the superiority of the other as well. Besides the high performance athletes, the Brazilian population will love sport because they will understand the importance of sport in their lives. They will welcome the competition with more enthusiasm, with more commitment, with more involvement. We can only understand what we live. The sport will build a more solid base. Much more sport and much more culture, this will be the legacy”, she says, smiling.

Like millions on the beach sand, Daniela Mercury will be, simultaneously, the spectator and the star. Like every Brazilian, she will be part of the show in 2016. By then, the sunny afternoons of Ipanema will turn into poem the union, the energy and the warm welcome, expressing the spirit of Cariocas. What marks Rio de Janeiro is in the emblem and in the heart of Rio 2016.