After the cancellation of the 2021 edition and the postponement of last year’s edition to April due to Covid, the 2023 vintage promises a return to the roots.
Carnival fever in Rio de Janeiro reaches its peak on Sunday night: feathers and sequins are paraded in the first of two nights of samba school parades, with their gigantic floats and shimmering costumes.
“The greatest show on earth,” according to the mayor of the “Marvelous City,” begins at 10 p.m. (1 a.m. GMT Monday) in a packed sambadrome with 70,000 cheering spectators ready to vibrate to the sound of deafening percussion. A breathtaking spectacle that is also watched by millions of viewers.
Much more than a folk festival, an art of living
Samba schools, mostly located in favelas, are the pride of an entire neighborhood. They prepare all year round for their big show, which can never be longer than 70 minutes, under the threat of point deductions from unscrupulous judges.
The 12 main schools (six parades on Sunday, six more on Monday) are judged on nine very specific criteria, including the quality of the floats, the costumes, the choice of theme or the choreography of the “comissao de frente”, a group of outstanding dancers who represent the open parade.
Each formation parades nearly 3,000 people down Marquês de Sapucai Avenue, a roughly 700-meter-long artery surrounded by the imposing grandstands of the Sambadrome.
Samba under Lula
The first two schools of the parade will pay tribute to key figures in samba. Imperio Serrano, opening the ball, pays tribute to singer Arlindo Cruz, who suffered a massive stroke in 2017.
Then it’s the turn of reigning champion Grande Rio, who traces the life of Zeca Pagodinho, a hugely popular singer whose hit Deixa a vida me levar (Let Me Lead Life, ed.) became the extra-official anthem. the world champion soccer team in 2002. Last year, Grande Rio won the coveted trophy for the first time in its history with a parade against religious intolerance. This school in Duque de Caxias, a poor suburb north of Rio, had highlighted Exu, an Afro-Brazilian deity often demonized by the neo-Pentecostal churches, ardent supporters of far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro.
But this year the tide has turned in politics, with the return to power of left-wing icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has vowed to restore culture to its former glory after numerous budget cuts and allegations of censorship under the previous government.
The new culture minister Margareth Menezes will parade with the last school to start at the Sambadrome on Sunday night, Mangueira. This parade showcases the richness of the Carnival of Salvador de Bahia (Northeast), cradle of Afro-Brazilian culture.
Mocidade and Unidos da Tijuca will also focus their parades on the culture of the poor regions of the Northeast, Lula’s adopted stronghold.
While the night in Rio is marked by the magic of the parades in the Sambadrome, the early hours of the morning are punctuated by the musical parades of the “blocos” that enliven the city streets, some of which attract hundreds of thousands of people for an unbridled party at where the alcohol flows freely. Enough to fill the traders’ coffers: the town hall expects 4.5 billion reais (about 800 million euros) to flow into the local economy, with hotels at 95% occupancy.