“King Momo”, the symbolic “ruler” of the Rio de Janeiro Carnival, holds the keys to the city at the official opening ceremony at City Hall
RIO DE JANEIRO — The mayor of Rio de Janeiro officially declared the world’s largest carnival open for the first full edition in three years, calling it a celebration of life and democracy after the turmoil of Covid-19 and bitterly divisive elections in Brazil.
Grinning Mayor Eduardo Paes, embracing the party spirit with a Panama hat, symbolically handed over the key to the city to “King Momo”, the cheerful “monarch” who will “rule” Rio for four days.
“With great happiness, celebrating life, celebrating democracy, I have the honor of presenting the keys of the city to King Momo,” said the mayor, a self-confessed carnival lover, as he presented the “king” with the giant key. — a carnival fanatic chosen in a sort of pageant for his charisma, party spirit and samba skills.
Rio is poised to celebrate after two carnivals were disrupted by the pandemic and a polarizing October presidential election in which veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ousted incumbent Jair Bolsonaro – a ultra-conservative carnival critic accused of authoritarian tendencies who regularly had Protests and mockery erupt during the celebrations.
In reality, the iconic beach town has been going on with Carnival for weeks, with huge street parties known as ‘blocos’.
The official celebrations culminate on Sunday and Monday evenings with the glittering floats, pounding drums and skimpy, jeweled costumes of the samba school’s annual parade competition.
Rio held a scaled-down version of the carnival last year, postponed by two months because of the pandemic – which has claimed nearly 700,000 lives in Brazil – and without the street parties.
This year the Full-On festival is back.
The samba schools strive to put the finishing touches to the nightly spectacle.
“We always give everything we have. We work till dawn, we sleep here, we have no social life. Whatever it takes to bring that happiness to people on Carnival Day,” said Rogerio Sampaio, 54, props master at the Viradouro Samba School.
Officials expect a sell-out crowd of more than 70,000 people each night at the “Sambadrome,” the avenue turned stadium where the 12 top-light samba schools will compete for the coveted title of Parade Champion.
Millions more people will be watching live on TV.
And for the hundreds of street parties, more than five million are expected.
– Emerging from ‘Darkness’ –
The samba schools that have sprung up in Rio’s impoverished favelas gather thousands of dancers, singers and drummers and henchmen from over-the-top floats to tell a story on a chosen theme and impress the jury.
During Bolsonaro’s presidency, the shows often featured politically charged messages on issues such as racism, intolerance, environmental degradation and Brazil’s disastrous handling of Covid-19.
This year’s parades are less political.
Many of the schools are going back to basics, choosing themes associated with the founding figures of the samba genre, the Afro-Brazilian culture from which it emerged, and Northeastern Brazil — that is, the poor, predominantly black and multiracial region of the spiritual home of the percussion-heavy music style.
“This is a moment when Brazil needs to reaffirm the best in itself after a dark period for politics and popular culture. This is a time of light after dark,” said Leandro Vieira, creative director of the Imperatriz Leopoldinense samba school.
“Carnival is a mirror of Brazil,” he told the news magazine Veja.
His own school’s parade will tell the story of Lampiao, a Northeastern outlaw hero of the 1920s and 30s who has been called Brazil’s version of Robin Hood or Jesse James.
– ‘Great expression of joy’ –
This year’s carnival will be “a great expression of joy,” said Adair Rocha, director of cultural programs at Rio de Janeiro State University.
“It’s all about life, about overcoming difficulties,” he told AFP.
The city estimates that the carnival will raise 4.5 billion reais ($880 million) for the local economy.
Hotel occupancy is expected to be over 95 percent.
The city has placed 34,000 portable toilets in public areas and deployed a small army of sanitation workers who typically clean up around 1,000 tons of carnival trash.