Rock in Rio's sign language pumps up Brazil's deaf audience

Tens of thousands of Brazilians gathered at Rio de Janeiro’s mega-festival Rock in Rio on Friday, with many staking out spots of artificial grass all day to hear the headliner, Katy Perry. As her music keyed up, the enormous screens around the stage showed someone else in their bottom corners — a sign language interpreter.

The red-haired woman — with a chunky chain belt and a gem between her eyebrows — snapped her fingers and swayed, then pumped her arms as the beat gathered force.

“It seems like I’m on stage with her, in front of everyone,” the interpreter, Laísa Martins, told the Associated Press afterward. And as Katy Perry belted out her first verse, Martins started signing.

Rock in Rio is featuring sign language interpreters on its big screens for the first time in its 40-year history. It’s one of Latin America’s biggest festivals, drawing 100,000 people a day over seven days, and Sunday is its last day.

Inside a container backstage, interpreters sign in front of a green screen, with their images appearing above the stage to ensure deaf people across the thronging crowd can follow. Organizers also invite dozens of deaf people and their companions into a VIP area, right by the stage and close enough to speakers to feel the music pulsing through their bodies.

Interpreters have started popping up at festivals and concerts across Brazil in recent years. Their sudden ubiquity stems from Brazil’s ambitious 2015 inclusion law that sought to put the country at the global forefront of accessibility and, among other things, established that people with disabilities have the right to access cultural events while guaranteeing organizers provide means of doing so.

Some interpreters have drawn the spotlight themselves with their flair and flashy dress, gaining thousands of social media followers. Demand for them is surging so much that many start working before even finishing their education, said Lenildo Souza, president of the nationwide federation of sign language interpreters’ associations.

In Brazil, 2.3 million people are partially or completely deaf, according to the national statistics institute. But fewer than two-thirds of those who are completely deaf know how to use Brazilian sign language, and far less among those with some hearing. That’s because people opt for cochlear implants, learn only lip-reading, or go deaf later in life, said Souza.

As such, subtitles could be more effective at transmitting lyrics; Colombian singer Karol G sang so quickly at times Friday night that some words were lost on Amorim, who isn’t fluent in Spanish. But Amorim said interpreters convey more than just lyrics of songs, which they study intensively ahead of the show. They dance to the rhythm and pull faces to transmit the music’s energy and emotion — be it euphoria, rage, mystery or sensuality. That pumps up the crowd, deaf and hearing people alike.

“We express the whole idea of the song with our expressions, with our body. We want to express the entire musical context and use literally our entire body,” said Amorim, whose older sister is deaf. “Our feet are cut off there (on the screen), but during samba songs, we’re dancing samba. It’s just like that.”

Rock in Rio is already one of the most accessible festivals for deaf people in the world, said Thiago Amaral, its coordinator of plurality. Still, his team is working to innovate, and future editions could include vibrating platforms or a product similar to the vibrating vests they tested last year, he said. This year was also the first that Rock in Rio offered audio description earpieces for those with limited vision.

One of the deaf people at Rock in Rio on Friday was Henrique Miranda Martins, 24. His whole family is big into music, especially samba — his uncles play the four-string cavaquinho and pandeiro, a handheld frame drum — and he was always around it growing up. But Martins can hear little from his right ear and nothing from his left, so could never fully connect or participate.

Last year, he went to his first-ever concert with sign language interpreters, Coldplay, and it became his favorite band — even before its single whose official video features people signing. Then Martins went to the Lollapalooza festival in Sao Paulo. And last week he traveled from Sao Paulo to party with his parents at Rock in Rio.

He was most hyped to see Brazilian singer Iza on Friday, and waited to enter the special section by the stage. Iza started playing, just off to his left, but he faced the opposite direction, watching her on the screen with an interpreter in its corner. He danced and signed along with the interpreter, often in synchrony.

“I can follow the interpreter and I’m very happy to be able to feel the music and live this experience,” Martins said, speaking through an interpreter. “For deaf people, it’s very important. We can’t be outside this here. We need to be inside, with accessibility, together with everyone participating in everything. I’m very happy.”

Rock in Rio’s camera scanning the crowd found Martins vibing and locked in. For a few seconds, he was up on the big screen for everyone to see, smiling wide with his head thrown back and shaking both hands in the air — the sign for applause.

Henrique Miranda da Silva Martins, 24, who is deaf, reacts during a performance at the Rock in Rio music festival in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Sign language interpreter, top right, translates on a big screen during a performance by Brazilian singer Kayblack at the Rock in Rio music festival in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Diogo Soares Abdulmassih, 48, who is deaf people, watches Brazilian singer Zeca Baleiro performs at the Rock in Rio music festival in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Katy Perry performs during the Rock in Rio music festival in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Colombian singer Karol G performs during the Rock in Rio music festival in Rio de Janeiro, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Henrique Miranda da Silva Martins, 24, who is deaf, reacts during a performance at the Rock in Rio music festival in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Sign language interpreter Adriano Romin, bottom left, translates on a big screen during a performance by Brazilian singer Pedro Sampaio at the Rock in Rio music festival in Rio de Janeiro, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Diogo Soares Abdulmassih, 48, who is deaf, watches Brazilian singer Zeca Baleiro perform at the Rock in Rio music festival in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Interpreter Adriana Lopes speaks sign language in a studio inside a shipping container for a performance by Brazilian singer Pedro Sampaio at the Rock in Rio music festival in Rio de Janeiro, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Interpreter Adriano Romin speaks sign language in a studio inside a shipping container for a performance by Brazilian singer Pedro Sampaio at the Rock in Rio music festival in Rio de Janeiro, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

MARTIGNY, Switzerland (AP) — Switzerland will hold a memorial service Friday, part of a national day of mourning to honor the 40 people who were killed in an Alpine bar fire earlier this month during a New Year's celebration.

An additional 116 people were injured, many of them seriously, when the fire broke out less than two hours after midnight at the Le Constellation bar on Jan. 1.

Investigators have said they believe sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the fire in the resort town of Crans-Montana when they came too close to the ceiling. Authorities are looking into whether soundproofing material on the ceiling conformed with regulations and whether the candles were permitted for use in the bar. Fire safety inspections hadn’t been carried out since 2019.

The severity of burns made it difficult to identify some victims, requiring families to supply authorities with DNA samples. Police have said many of the victims were in their teens to mid-20s.

Swiss authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the bar managers. The two are suspected of involuntary homicide, involuntary bodily harm and involuntarily causing a fire, according to the Valais region’s chief prosecutor.

As part of the national day of mourning, church bells across Switzerland will ring for five minutes, beginning at 2 p.m. local time Friday, and a minute of silence will be held.

The Rome prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the Crans-Montana fire, alleging manslaughter and arson, Italian media reported Thursday. An autopsy has been ordered for five of the six Italian victims and has been delegated to the prosecutors' offices in Milan, Bologna, and Genoa, where the bodies of the victims have been returned.

“What happened is not a disaster: It’s the result of too many people who didn’t do their job or who thought they were making easy money,” Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said at a press conference on Friday. “Those responsible must be identified and prosecuted.”

Meloni said the State Attorney General’s Office has contacted the Swiss Attorney General to follow the investigation and confirmed that the Rome Prosecutor’s Office has started a separate probe.

“The families have my word that they will not be left alone while they seek justice,” she added.

The Paris prosecutor’s office Monday announced that it was opening a probe to assist the Swiss investigation and make it easier for families of French victims to communicate with Swiss investigators. Nine French citizens were killed, the youngest of them aged 14, and 23 others were injured.

Swiss President Guy Parmelin writes in a condolence book prior to the official commemorative ceremony for the victims of the deadly fire at the "Le Constellation" bar in Crans-Montana at the CERM in Martigny, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (Michael Buholzer/Keystone/Pool via AP)

A victim with burned hands and relatives attend the official commemorative ceremony for the victims of the deadly fire at the "Le Constellation" bar in Crans-Montana, in Martigny, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone/Pool via AP)

The owners of the "Le Constellation" bar in Crans-Montana, where the deadly fire happened on New Year's Day, Jacques und Jessica Moretti from France, center, arrive with their lawyers Patrick Michod, Yael Hayat and Nicola Meier, to be auditioned by the Valais public prosecutor's office in Sion, Switzerland, Friday, January 9, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

Plaques bearing flags representing Switzerland, Romania, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, France, and Turkey are placed along with flowers and candles to honor the victims of the fire at the "Le Constellation" bar and lounge, in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Cyril Zingaro/Keystone via AP)

Mourners gather around flowers and candles to commemorate the victims of the "Le Constellation" bar and lounge's fire, in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

FILE - A child watches as an adult places a candle outside the sealed off Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, where a devastating fire left dead and injured during the New Year's celebrations. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner, File)