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Bois de Parintins is a huge folk festival that takes place on the island of Tupinambarana, or the city of Parintins in the Brazilian Amazon, every year on the last five days of June. My best friend's brother has been going to see it for decades, and he attests to its tremendous popularity and growth...they have even built a "bumb≤dromo" (Parintins' answer to the "samb≤dromo" of Rio de Janeiro) where 50,000 people sing and dance to the music of the boi. There are two groups that compete, the red called Garantido and the blue, Caprichoso. It's becoming a great destination for tourists in the Amazon.
The music, called "toada" de boi, was completely unknown outside the Amazon until recently. In 1996, the CD Carrapicho, Festa do Boi Bumbß, became a hit in Europe, with the infectious "drum dance," then the fever spread to Rio and the rest of Brazil, and now everybody is recording this joyful, eminently danceable music. The only place I heard it in the US, besides my own radio segment, was in Miami Beach, where people were dancing to it in front of a bar.
The boi-bumbß dramatic dance is a close relative of the bumba-meu-boi of northeastern Brazil and the boi-de-mamπo of Santa Catarina. It tells the basic story of an ox killed by a cowboy to satisfy his woman's cravings, and the trouble that ensues, culminating with the miraculous resurrection of the ox. In the Amazon, it includes Indians and fantastic creatures from their mythology.
The festival has a home page, where you can get information about the city and how to get there, packages, hotels, etc. The Carrapicho CD is available in the US and Europe, and you can buy the other CDs directly from DiscoLaser in Brazil.