The film begins with an angu­lar shot of the city at night lit by a thou­sand stars. A voice is heard singing incred­i­bly fast. We come back on earth at day time. The singer is in the street and pre­dicts what his future will be: an unem­ployed man crushed by the busi­ness world. These »can­ta­dores« from the North­east con­tin­ue an sec­u­lar oral tra­di­tion, but their songs talk of the present and por­tray the city as it is today. The talent of film­mak­ers Marie-Clé­mence and Cesar Paes is expressed in mag­i­cal moments as we grad­u­al­ly begin to under­stand the strict rules of these »con­tests« and are allowed to enter a city at its inte­ri­or which soon become famil­iar to us. Cesar Paes invites us to his coun­try and guides us to the heart of a living culture.