Samba Carneval in Brazil
The Brazilian Carnival (Portuguese:
Carnaval) is an annual festival in Brazil held 40 days before Easter
and marks the beginning of Lent. During Lent, Roman Catholics are
supposed to abstain from all bodily pleasures, including the
consumption of meat. The carnival, celebrated as a profane event and
believed to have its origins in the pagan Saturnalia, can thus be
considered an act of farewell to the pleasures of the flesh.

Brazilian
Carnival as a whole exhibits some differences with its counterparts in
Europe and other parts of the world, and within Brazil it has distinct
regional manifestations.

Because it precedes Lent, Carnival
long ago was conceived as the last chance for 40 daysto eat meat, to
make love and to live joyously, all forbidden activities duringthe
season when one is supposed to do penance in preparation for a
spiritualresurrection at Easter. Thus it was not too hard to see how
the Carnivalperiod, from one or two days to several weeks, came to be
in the specific timewhen one purposely set out to break the mold, to
determine to do all the thingsnormally impossible or forbidden in
everyday life, and perhaps even to fulfiloneself by trying out one or
more alternative roles or lifestyles to be for ashort time what one
could never be in ordinary life. This is the reversalphenomenon so
often noted in Carnivals everywhere, wherein regular behaviour
isreversed, and people choose to do the very opposite of their normal
behaviour. Carnival istruly profane since it seeks specifically NOT to
be sacred, and indeed to doviolence to propriety and respectability by
irreverence and even contempt,often made all the more effective through
the use of indirection, humour, andirony. Such profanation is the
specialty of European Carnivals, elements ofwhich are specifically
designed to be sacrilegious, as shocking as possible tothe conservative
and the religious Perhapsthis is the place to proclaim “Crowley’s Law”:
The lower the class (anddarker the skin), the more serious the
carnavalesco. Bahians andAfrican-nationalist Cariocas (natives of Rio)
often compare their increasinglyrace-conscious Afoxe and Bloco Afro
parading organizations with Catholicreligious street procession at
Corpus Christi and other holy days. “This is ourchance to display our
culture and religious beliefs, just like the (white)Catholics do during
their festivals. More andmore, Afro- Brazilian mythology derived from
Yoruba sources is featured as thesubject of Carnival. For instance,
Iemanja (Yemoja in Yoruba land), the Goddessof the Sea syncretized with
the Virgin Mary, was the chose subject of theBahian Carnival of 1984,
with an immense picture made of multicolour strands oflight bulbs
suspended across the line of march in the Praca Castro Alves, andthe
sacred symbols of the other gods and goddesses of the pantheon in
giantlighted form displayed on lampposts throughout town and around the
harbour. Rio de Janeiro Braziliancitizens used to riot until the
Carnival was accepted by the government as anexpression of culture.
That was because the Brazilian carnival had its originin a violent
Portuguese festivity called "entrudo". The modernBrazilian Carnival
finds its roots in Rio de Janeiro in the 1845s, when the
city’sbourgeoisie imported the practice of holding balls and masquerade
parties from Paris. It originally mimicked theEuropean form of the
festival, over time acquiring elements derived fromAfrican and
Amerindian cultures. In the late19th century, the cordões (literally
laces or strings in Portuguese) wereintroduced in Rio de Janeiro. These
were groups of people who would paradethrough the streets playing music
and dancing. Today they are known as blocos(blocks), consisting of a
group of people who dress in costumes or specials t-shirtsaccording to
certain themes or to celebrate the Carnival. Blocos are
generallyassociated with particular neighbourhoods or suburbs and
include both apercussion or music group and an entourage of revellers.
This"blocos" have become a big part of Rio de Janeiro's Carnival. There
are more than 100"blocos" now and each year this number increases. Some
are big, someare small, most concentrate in square and later parade
though the streets and afew stay in the same place all the time. Each
"bloco" has its placeor street to parade and the big ones usually close
the streets for car traffic.They usually start in January and last till
the end of Carnival, so since thebeginning of the year you can see a
group of people dancing samba in any streetof Rio in the weekends and
during Carnivalevery day. "Blocos"parade in Copacabana, Ipanema,
Leblon, Lagoa, Jardim Botanico, Downtown etc.They usually take place
during the day till night but a few starts after worktime and you can
see people going straight from work. Usually the people whoorganized
the "bloco" compose their own music which plays all thetime during the
parade with old carnival music’s called "Marchinhas decarnaval" and
sambas that have become classics. The most important"blocos" are: "O
cordão do bola preta" that parade indowntown streets, in the heart of
Rio's historical center. "Suvaco deCristo" (Christ's armpit in
Portuguese), because it parades in a streetcall Jardim Bortanico, near
Rio de Janeiro's Botanic Garden and below the Christthe Redeemer
statue. Monobloco is another bloco that has become so famous thattheir
band plays all year round in parties and small concerts. Carnival inRio
de Janeiro is known worldwide for its elaborate parades staged by the
city’s majorsamba schools in the Sambadrome and is one of Rio’s major
tourist attractions. Eachsamba school rehearses all year round for this
event and all of its memberstake part in the rehearsals, whether
experts or not. It is a place where peoplewho always wanted to write a
song, play a percussion instrument or choreographa dance will have
their opportunity. It is usual that during the carnivalaristocrats
dress up as commoners, men cross-dress as women, and poor peopledress
up as princes and princesses - social roles and class differences
areexpected to be forgotten once a year, but only for the duration of
thefestival. Sambaschools are very large, well-financed organizations
that work year round inpreparation for Carnival. Parading in the
Sambadrome runs over four entirenights and is part of an official
competition, divided into seven divisions, inwhich a single samba
school will be declared that year’s winner. Blocosderiving from the
samba schools also hold street parties in their respectivesuburbs,
through which they parade along with their followers. The hugeSamba
Schools of Rio de Janeiro sometimes choose political or social
commentaryand criticism, as for instance the “Mama, I Want Manaus”
enredo (“theme”) ofthe 1984 Carnival which satirized the greed of
Brazilians who go to theAmazonian city of Nanaus to by duty-free goods
such as imported electronics anddesigner clothing. Bahia There
areseveral major differences between Carnival in the state of Bahia in
Brazil's Northeast Region and Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. The musical
styles are differentin each carnival; in Bahiathere are many rhythms,
including samba, samba-reggae, axé, and others, whichare performed on a
truck equipped with giant speakers and a platform wheremusicians play
called a Trio Elétrico. Massive numbers of people follow thetrucks
singing and dancing. The "Indian" groups were inspired byWestern movies
from the United States. The groups dress up as NativeAmericans and take
on Native American names. Blocos Afros, or Afro groups, wereinfluenced
by the Black Pride Movement in the United States, independence
movements in Africa, and reggae music that denouncedracism and
oppression. The groups inspired a renewed pride in African heritage. In
the NewWorld Carnivals, such specific sacrilege is rather rare, and
where it occurs,the specialty of the upper classes who are usually
relatively lighter-skinnedthan their lower-class countrymen. An example
is the Banda do Lixo or GarbageBand of Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, which
plays garbage men carrying politicalplacards; or the Mudanca or Moving
Day bands riding in ancient ds cartsoverloaded with the pathetic
possessions of the poor migrants from the Northeastern secas or
droughts-a savage commentary on local conditions all the moreeffective
because it is played for humour. It thus ridicules both the poor
andthose who have caused their poverty. Pernambuco The stateof
Pernambuco, another Northeast Region state, has a unique Carnival in
itscapital of Recife, as well as in other cities like Olinda and on the
island of Itamaraca. Frevo, a type of music fromPernambuco, is
especially popular. Unlike theCarnivals in Salvador or Rio,
Pernambuco's festivities do not includecompetitions between parade
groups. Big groups in magnificent parades danceside by side with
improvised others. "Troças" and"maracatus", mostly of African
influence, begin one week beforeCarnival and end on the Sunday after
Carnival up until Ash Wednesday. There arewell-known groups with funny
names such as: "Tell me you love me, damnit", "The Midnight Man" (with
a famous giant dancing doll thatleads the group), "Crazy Lover",
"Olinda's Underpants" and "TheDoor."