Bilingual folk festival revives Guaraní songs for a new generation

Evening light spilled over the Río Esperanto as lanterns swayed above the makeshift stage on the riverbank. The scent of roasted yucca mingled with the low hum of an accordion, and a circle of children in bright ponchos began a chant taught in their Guaraní‑language class earlier that day.

The Riverbank Festival, now in its twelfth year, has become a living laboratory for the town’s bilingual education program. Teachers from the Escuela Bilingüe San Jacinto work with local musicians to adapt traditional Guaraní melodies, adding verses in Spanish that speak of harvest cycles and river stewardship.

Beyond the music, the town has installed new bilingual signage along its main thoroughfares, each plaque displaying the street name in Spanish and Guaraní, with QR codes linking to audio pronunciations recorded by elders. The initiative, funded jointly by the regional assembly’s cultural budget and a grant from the Federal Cultural Affairs Ministry, aims to normalize the coexistence of both languages in everyday life.