The future of Sertao

Inside "Dance mix disco" club in Tabira, Brazil, one of the few discoteque in Sertao Pernambucano where its famous folk music is still going strong. Inside, youngsters dance the traditional forrò but blended with more recent carioca funk and 90's pop music. 

Young sertanejos bathing in a rainwater tank on the edge of a road at the border between Pernambuco and Paraiba. Sertao, a semiarid region of northeast Brazil, is now experiencing the hardest drought of the last 50 years.

A fire eater performing in a small circus found near Ouricouri. The circus company, formed mostly by young people, is going through the Sertao bringing a fun show and a smile in remote areas of Brazil.

A young guy is seen cutting cow heads in the backyard of the Municipal slaughterhouse of Sertânia, Brazil. For sertanejos the livestock production remain the first source of income even if dropped by 35% in the last four years because the drought. 

A group of dressed young boys is seen knocking at the doors of the small village in Sertao Pernambucano, Brazil. This old tradition, an equivalent of America's halloween, takes place during the Holy week and it seen as a pretext to exchange food goodies during dry periods.

A group of young guys is searched during a police operation in a poor neighborhood of Salgueiro, Brazil. The military has increased operations as they seek to clamp down the growing marijuana industry in the area, considered the main production center in Brazil. 

A young declamator poet perform in a cultural exhibition about the importance of water in Afogados da Ingazeira, Sertao Pernambucano, Brazil. This old tradition is still up thanks to new generations that continue to perform in community events with traditional freestyle poetry. 

A little girl receives a blessing on the doorstep of Expedita's house, a folk healer who treats dozens of families each day, near Exù, Brazil. Her services are free and she is deeply respected by the locals. 

A child explores what remains of an artificial lake near his house, in proximity of Serra Talhada, Brazil. Sertao is experiencing the hardest drought of the last 50 years, with absence of rain since 4 years in several areas. 

A public contest offers some jobs in the municipality of Serrita, paralyzing this small country for a day. The unemployment rate is the worst of the last decade, due to collapse of several productions because the drought.

What remains of a big reservoir lake in Sertao do Pajeú. In 1998 this valley was settled by 120 families of "landless movement workers" who occupied this once fertile land dreaming for a dignified survival. 

A mother sows with difficulty a soil still too dry, despite the rainy season began officially weeks ago, in the sertao do Pajeú.

Jenailton, 15, son of the local cowboy Zezé de Sirley, recovers a calf in the scrublands of Brazil's northeast. The guy  recently left school to follow his father's path. 

Spotted jaguar statues for sale on Sertao do Ipu.

A group of dressed young boys is seen waiting for the rest of the group in the small village of Serrita, in Sertao Pernambucano, Brazil. This old tradition, an equivalent of America's halloween, takes place during the Holy week and it seen as a pretext to exchange food goodies during dry periods.

A mother looks outside from a center that helps mothers of teenagers addicted to crack and alcohol in Serra Talhada, Brazil.
The consume of crack is spreading fast into the Sertao, especially amongst minors. 

A driving school in Sertao Pernambucano, in the city of Araripina, Pernambuco at the border with the region of Piauì, Brazil. 

Ouricuri (Sertao Pernambucano) A goat named Bido is the main attraction of a circus that is traveling around the Sertao. Goat is considered the animal "king of Sertao" because its high resistance in drought conditions. 

The daughter of a circusman who's travelling across Northeast Brazil, poses for a portrait asked by his father while camped in the city of Ouricuri, Brazil. 

The statue of a crying Madonna is seen inside a church were thousands of Catholics uses to visit on pilgrimage  in Juazeiro do Norte, Bahia, Brazil.

A woman is seen caressing one of the many dogs in the illegal dump where he lives for a few weeks, close to Serra Talhada, in the Sertao Pernambucano, Brazil. 

A young cowboy invites a girl to get on his horse during the Feast of São José in Custodia, Sertao Pernambucano, Brazil.

A young cowboy finishes a beer during the feast of Sao Jose in custody, in the Sertao Pernambucano. 

Virgulino, 74, is waiting for cowheads and others waste of production of a slaughterhouse in Afogados da Ingazeira.