Samba on London’s South Bank

Although the muddy Thames foreshore can’t quite rival the white sands of Copacabana beach, London’s Southbank centre is promising a summer-long explosion of light, colour and samba beats, in a three-month festival of Brazilian culture centred on the Festival Hall and the Hayward gallery.

The festival, the most elaborate yet mounted by the arts complex, will include literature, art, theatre, music, debates, free events, food – and cocktails. “I may not remember by the end of the summer what they were, but the cocktails will be many and various,” artistic director Jude Kelly promised.

Internationally revered artists including Gilberto Gil, a pioneer of world music and political activist who served a five-year term as Brazil’s minister of culture, Maria Bethania, the singer dubbed “the Soul of Brazil”, and Socrates, footballer, medical doctor, social activist and philosopher, will appear alongside youngsters working in street art, music and dance.

Some of the young authors and poets will be specially translated for the festival, as their work is only so far published in Portuguese.

Kelly said it was appropriate that the South Bank complex, built for the Festival of Britain, should play host to perhaps the most festive country in the world.

The designer Gringo Cardia – graphic artist, circus designer, architect and opera producer – is being let loose on the maze of walkways, steps and balconies of the entire complex, apart from the Hayward Gallery, where the renowned artist Ernesto Neto will transform the upper galleries and outdoor terraces with his spectacular soft sculptures which often incorporate spices and other scents.

The Udderbelly tent – a giant purple upside down cow, now a familiar summer visitor on the South Bank – will house Brazil! Brazil!, a show combining capoeira martial arts, dance and football skills, opening on the day of Brazil’s first World Cup match, performed by young men who have escaped the gangland culture of the favelas.

Nothing is being scheduled for the night of the World Cup final – just in case it ends up England v Brazil.