Last Sunday, 14 December 2025, beautiful community events were taking place on two of the most iconic beaches on our planet: Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, and Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – two countries that I love deeply.

The event in Bondi was sadly interrupted by a terrorist attack that killed at least 15 people.
Meanwhile, the gathering in Copacabana became the main stage for more than 40 demonstrations across Brazil’s major cities, protesting against Brazilian parliamentarians who are prioritising the disregard of judicial decisions – actions that jeopardise Brazilian democracy, ecology and women’s safety.

Genuine dialogue is vital as an antidote to violence. Some of Brazil’s greatest artists, alongside thousands of conscious citizens across the country, came together to protest in the most beautiful and peaceful way possible: through the power of music and the arts – the soft power of dialogue, the only force truly capable of producing lasting change, and collaboration. 

Thank you to everyone who was there, representing all of us – the people who believe in building bridges instead of wars and walls.

There were concerts and demonstrations throughout the entire Sunday. Here is a short 14-minute selection of my favourite moments from the concert in Rio de Janeiro, combining MPB, Bossa, Choro, Samba, Pop, Rock, Rap, Afoxé, Carimbo and beyond. Thank you all for making a difference.

This is what makes me most proud of being Brazilian and inspires me to dedicate my life to creating Brazilian music fusions around the globe. Within the same spirit, I am also very honoured to be part of the Australian arts scene: “We are one, but we are many, and from all the lands on Earth we come” – by Bruce Woodley (of The Seekers) and Dobe Newton (of The Bushwackers).

#softpower #artsmatter #brazil #australia 

Today, 25 October 2025 — the day of our concert at the Perth International Jazz Festival — also marks 18 years that I have been calling Perth home. 

This feels especially symbolic, as from now on Perth becomes the city I’ve lived in the longest in my life, even longer than my birthplace, São Paulo in Brazil, where I lived until I was 17. 

From São Paulo, life took me to Brasília (Brazil’s capital), then to Salvador (Bahia), Geneva (Switzerland), Auckland (Aotearoa–New Zealand), and finally Boorloo–Perth (Australia) — with a five-month interlude in New York in 2018.  

I feel connected with and I carry all these places, people, sounds and stories with me everywhere I go. It is quite fun to feel simultaneously International and local – Sotero-paulistana, Brazilian, Swiss, Kiwi, Australian – plus my deliciously mixed heritage: Portuguese, Spanish, Furlan, African Yuruba, Indigenous Tupiniquim, Italian, Germanic, Jewish, Arabic, Persian… my DNA shows it all… 

I arrived in Perth in 2007 with my beloved Kiwi kids, my curumins Jobim and Lilas, and their father. Arriving on the day before my youngest turned 2, to save in flying costs. A few years later we my partner and I separated, and not long afterwards I met the love of my life here in Perth — Geoffrey, my Australian boy from Cottesloe — who made me fall in love with him, his art, his culture and country, again and again, every day. Thank you, Meu Amor, for welcoming me into your extraordinary universe, and for making me feel at home in your arms and in your world.

I often say that I found my musical home and family in Perth at The Ellington Jazz Club — the very place where I’ll be performing tonight, and where I’ve been performing for at least 15 years. Perth without The Ellington simply wouldn’t be the same.

This special photo was taken at The Ellington in 2015, by Angelyne Wolfe  — photographer, graphic designer, and, truly, the driving force behind the creation and production of both The Ellington Jazz Club and the Perth International Jazz Festival. She’s been there since the very beginning, keeping Graham Wood’s dream alive.

Thank you, Angelyne and everyone involved in this long and beautiful trajectory of making Perth the Australian Capital of Jazz — home of WAAPA, The Ellington, the PIJF, and all of us! I share this vision. 

Tonight, I’ll share the stage with incredible artists and beloved friends — people I truly admire and care about: drummer Bronton Ainsworth, with whom I’ve been performing for at least 14 years; Josh and Rafa for nearly 10; and Arthur and Loro for several years already. (Paul Millard, — we’ll miss you tonight!).

Thank you, Perth. Thank you to all friends, fans, and everyone who has ever come to one of our concerts to share music, stories, and life with us. We do what we do with so much love — to share it with you.

It’s festival time and celebration time! See you tonight and around the 2025 Perth International Jazz Festival! 

@highlight

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From the women who paved the way — to the stage I stand on today.

How can a single piece of technology help to transform the course of women’s history in music?

This semester at The University of Western Australia (UWA), I explored that question through my project Vinyl Orbit— a visual and conceptual study of how the vinyl record (LP) revolutionised not only the music industry but also the visibility and agency of women within it.

The project frames the LP as both a technological innovation and an agent of empowerment, amplifying the voices of pioneering women from marginalised cultures — African American blues and jazz singers, and Portuguese-speaking artists from Brazil.

By recording their songs on vinyl, these women transcended social, economic, and geographic boundaries. Their music travelled globally, challenging prejudice and reshaping cultural narratives.

The collage artwork features twelve iconic artists, orbiting a vinyl record reimagined as a world map:
Carmen Miranda, Nina Simone, Elis Regina, Sarah Vaughan, Rita Lee, Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Rosa Passos, Ella Fitzgerald, Ma Rainey, Leny Andrade, and Astrud Gilberto.

Each represents a “track” in this conceptual long play — a constellation of female voices whose recordings continue to inspire new generations of women in music, including myself.

It is a profound honour to perform this Saturday, 25 October, at 2025 Perth International Jazz Festival (at the Ellington’s stage) celebrating the legacy of these extraordinary women whose voices continue to resonate across time and space.

Song: Inocencia by Chris Naughton/ Juliana Areias, from Juliana Areias – Bossa Nova Baby album, featuring Juliana Areias (voice) and Graham Wood (piano). 

Graham Wood, the founder of both The Perth International Jazz Festival and The Ellington Jazz Club. 

Thank you all for paving the way.

#VinylOrbit #WomenInMusic #UWA #PerthJazzFestival #Jazz #Blues #BrazilianMusic #Vinyl #Empowerment #ArtAndResearch #CulturalExchange #MusicHistory #FemaleVoices #sisterhood 

Thank you Xpress Magazine, Perth International Jazz Festival and The Ellington Jazz Club for having us! We can’t wait to share all we are cooking with you! Groovy wave of Brazilian music coming your way! Are you ready? See you there on Sat 25 Oct! (Link at bio: http://www.julianaareias.com ).

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