Festival Internacional da Canção
| Festival Internacional da Canção | |
|---|---|
Poster for the first festival designed by Ziraldo | |
| Presented by | Hilton Gomes |
| Opening theme | "Hino do Festival Internacional da Canção" composed by Erlon Chaves and Ronaldo Bôscoli |
| Country of origin | Brazil |
| Original language | Portuguese |
| No. of episodes | 7 |
| Production | |
| Production location | Rio de Janeiro |
| Production companies | |
| Original release | |
| Release | 1966 – 1972 |
The Festival Internacional da Canção (FIC; also known as the Festival Internacional da Canção Popular) was an annual televised music competition held at the Ginásio do Maracanãzinho in Rio de Janeiro from 1966 to 1972. The festival was created by journalist Augusto Marzagão and was designed with the goal of rivaling the Festival de Música Popular Brasileira hosted by TV Record. The competition consisted of two sections: a national phase (consisting of only Brazilian songwriters) and an international phase (consisting of all attending countries including the winners of the national phase). The winners of each phase were given the Golden Rooster Award, produced by jewelry firm H. Stern and designed by Ziraldo.
Despite only having a seven-year run, the festival featured some of the most influential musicians in Brazilian music such as Os Mutantes, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, and Gilberto Gil. It also helped launch the careers of several notable artists, including Raul Seixas and Milton Nascimento.
The festival functioned as propaganda tool for the dictatorship to promote Brazil overseas while conversely featuring protest songs that highlighted the political discontent within the country. Several editions featured demonstrations against the Brazilian dictatorship and government censorship. Some featured expressions of black pride. As a result, many iterations of the festival were marked by controversy.