Friday, March 24, 2006

Traditions

Photos: EMBRATUR- Brazilian Tourism Board



THE BRAZILIAN CARNIVAL







BRAZILIAN CARNIVAL
By Larissa Rios

In Brazil, the Carnival is the biggest popular manifestation besides football.

Surprisingly, the origin of the Brazilian Carnival is European. It dawned in the beginning of the colonization and it was bequest of the Portuguese entrudo, a popular street party.

Officially the Brazilian Carnival starts on a Saturday and ends on a Tuesday. However, in some cities, the festivities can stretch to more than a week, not including the so-called previas (preview), which occupy the whole of summer.

Each region has different manifestations, but the spirit of happiness and detachment take hold of all Brazilians, without any prejudice, creating an atmosphere of dream and illusion which will fascinate the world during the days of the carousal. The whole of Brazil is infected with the energy of the party and the biggest manifestation of Carnival are resplendent in Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Bahia.

In Pernambuco state, the Carnival of Olinda is inhabited by dancers, Pierrots and Colombinas. A t seven o'clock in the morning, the first chords of the 'frevo' can be heard among the crowd. Close to a million people following the music on the streets, jumping and dancing in a crazy rhythm, following rows of dressed-up revellers and huge mascot puppets.


Rio de Janeiro offers one of the greatest shows on earth: the Samba Schools parade. So important is the parade to the local culture, that it has been given its own venue: the Sambodromo. A space for the spectacle's presentation and for the audience, as the procession passes along its 800m extension.

Each Samba School has its own unique theme represented through the costumes and the samba-enredo (sound track). Themes are created by the carnavalescos, professionals who are specialized in using their imagination to form the conception of the parade. The Samba Schools have lots of participants (the bigger ones can claim up to 4,000 people), all dancing and singing in a unique rhythm generating a truly exuberant sound and visual.

The Samba School parade also characterizes the Carnival of Sao Paolo. As in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo has a Sambodromo especially projected by Oscar Niemeyer for the Samba Schools parade: the Anhemi Sambodromo.

In Bahia, the biggest attraction would have to be the Trios Electricos, enormous truncks converted into stages, blaring out the contagious Axe-Music at a phenomenal volume. With the Trio eletrico comes the Blocos, a group of revellers dressed in the same costume.
In the command of the Blocos are the stars of the Carnival of Bahia: namely Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Ivete Sangalo, Daniela Mercury, Chiclete com Banana, Asa de Aguia, Olodum and more.

The Carnival in Salvador de Bahia attracts around 2 million people every year and it's comprised of more than 100 Blocos which during seven days, makes more than 26km divided into two circuits, entertaining the crowd. This is exactly why the Guinness Book rates this as the greatest street parade in the world.

This is the Carnival in Brazil. A party, a moment of music, union, fantasy, which reveals the real cheerful, creative and irreverent essence of the Brazilian people.

posted by Viva Brasil Magazine @ 8:37 PM

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