The Hindu Business Line : Samba for the senses

Carnival celebrations in Rio de Janeiro are not just mere parades or pageants. It is the time when the Cariocas — as the locals are called — let their hair down and abandon themselves to unrestrained hedonism. Rhythm and lyrics of Samba take possession of bodies and souls; excitement and intoxication overtake inhibition and temperance; fantasies embolden the faint-hearted; and adventure and audacity drive the spirit of even the mild and modest.

Rich and poor, blacks and blondes, celebrities and street kids and young and old come together in the collective carnival delirium. While Carnival is celebrated all over Brazil, it is the Rio carnival that has fired the imagination of the world with television images of the explosion of colour and costumes and fiesta and frolic. It is undoubtedly the biggest show on earth and the most elaborate extravaganza.

The scale and lavishness of the parades are unmatched elsewhere in the world. About 70,000 costumed people march, sing and dance in parade for about 20 hours on Sunday and Monday nights of the Carnival week.

While the official carnival calendar is for four days, the Cariocas stretch the celebrations to a whole fortnight.

The carnival comes in February-March each year and the preparations and rehearsals start from November itself. This year the Carnival will be celebrated from February 17 to 20. The main parades will take place on February 19-20 in the specially built stadium called Sambadrome. The stadium has 65,000 seats and has been designed by the famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.

Rivalry and revelry

The top 14 Samba clubs compete over two days (Sunday and Monday) of the carnival. There are about 70 samba clubs in Rio of which only the top ones get to perform at the main parades. Their league ranking and rivalries are not unlike those of football clubs. Each club has a contingent ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 participants — the parade singing, dancing to the theme song and choreography in coordinated fancy costumes form a fabulous human tapestry of colours and movements.

Each year the schools choose a theme and a song, based on which they design the costumes and floats. There are six to eight huge floats in the contingent of each club. Each school takes 80 minutes to march from one end of the Sambadrome to the other. Prizes are awarded to the best group and there is a winner's parade on the following Saturday. Besides members and fans of the clubs, celebrities and models join the parade, adding glamour to the goings on.

The parade starts at 8 p.m. and continues the nightlong. Spectators join in the singing and dancing. Beer flows freely along with Caipirinha, the Brazilian cocktail made from sugarcane liquor, which keep the spirits high.

Each samba school spends about $200,000 to $1 million in putting together the floats and the parade. The money is raised through corporate sponsorship and sale of costumes to the participants. Each costume can cost as much as $300.

Ticket prices for the Sambadrome event range from $60 for a simple bench seat to $600 for a box seat in exclusive cabins.

During the carnival fortnight, there are street parades in the different neighbourhoods in which thousands assemble and take out processions, wearing costumes and dancing to the music of local orchestra.

Visitors can join in these revelries and share the Carioca fun. There are also small but noisy parades of gays, drag queens and other fringe groups. For high society, there are Carnival Balls organised by hotels and clubs featuring champagne and caviar.

Other carnivals

Sao Paulo city, which is three times bigger than Rio, also has impressive parades at its own Sambadrome. The competition among its samba schools is also intensive but the Paulistas are no match for the Cariocas in the fun and celebrations.

The Carnival festival in Salvador, capital of Bahia state, is considered original, authentic and traditional. The parades are on the streets and open to participation by the public, unlike the ticketed show at the Rio Sambadrome. Salvador, with predominantly people of African descent, is the fount of Brazilian music and culture.

Over 300,000 foreign tourists, besides Brazilians from other cities, visit Rio during Carnival. The hotels hike their prices at this time and offer packages of minimum four nights. While the celebrities stay in the legendary Copacabana Palace hotel, there are plenty of hotels for different budgets, as well as apartments available on rent.

Indians can glimpse a bit of Rio and the Carnival in the Bollywood movie Dhoom II, parts of which were shot in that city.

(The writer is with the Ministry of External Affairs. Views expressed are personal.)

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