São Paulo: it’s Brazil’s largest metropolis, its beating financial heart, and the city that never sleeps. But how about a new, lesser known label: Brazil’s music capital? Scratch the city's surface today and you’ll find a vibrant, eclectic music scene, from Centro and Baixo Augusta’s seedier rock clubs to the emerging nova cena paulista, the new wave of talented young singer-songwriters, and MCs waxing lyrical in the city’s periferia – its gritty suburbs. Meanwhile, electronic music keeps the club kids up till well past dawn to the sounds of homegrown, paulistano DJs. 

It’s not all about the local talent, though. São Paulo has established itself firmly on the international live music and festival circuit, with Chicago’s mighty Lollapalooza kicking off the festival year this Easter weekend, 7-8 April. Nearly fifty bands will hit the four stages at the São Paulo Jockey Club, including MGMT, Peaches, Foo Fighters and the Arctic Monkeys, alongside some of the most interesting Brazilian bands of the moment. A month later, Sónar continues to build on its reputation as the world’s most important electronic music festival, bringing Björk, Justice and a veritable Who’s Who of the electronic scene to São Paulo – that's from 11-12 May, at Anhembi Parque.

To help you navigate your way through Lollapalooza and the city's various music scenes, we've asked four of the paulistano DJs and musicians in the festival's lineup – representing rock, hip hop, electronic and the nova cena paulista – to help us map out the city’s musical scene. See you down the front?

	Lollapalooza music festival  All you need to know about this massive two-day  showcase
	In the music scene: rock  From clubs to record stores, SP is a rock 'n' roll    paradise – we go inside the city's rock scene with  Clemente Nascimento
	In the music scene: hip hop   Where b-boys and b-girls find their rap fixes –  scoping out the hip hop scene with Clodoaldo  ‘Rhossi’ Santos
	In the music scene: electronic  Beatmixers converge on the city's turntables and  dancefloors – get all the vital data on SP's  electronic scene with DJ Mau Mau
	In the music scene: nova cena paulista  With a new take on MPB, fans are falling for SP's  next wave – Blubell guides us through the nova  cena paulista
	Hot Brazilian bands   Discover our pick of the country's up-and-coming  artists
	Perry Farrell on Lollapalooza and more  We catch up with the legendary singer and  festival organiser