

Rio's Carnival, a high-stakes samba parade

Associated Press logo Associated Press 26/02/2017 Maurico Savarese

Rio de Janeiro's Carnival parade is world famous for the samba dancing, costumes that leave little to the imagination and the magnificent floats that roll down Avenida Marques de Sapucai, also known as the "sambadrome". For the competitors, getting to the big show is months in the making.



Competing schools of samba spend much of the year preparing for a 75-minute presentation that must include at least six floats to tell a story in an innovative way - while participants dance and sing, of course. The competitions begin on Sunday night and goes into Tuesday morning.




In the second half of the 19th century, posh clubs of Rio organised Carnival parties. Little by little, these gatherings gave up the elegant ballrooms and took to the streets. The poor also had their parties far from the city's elite south zone. Costumes were often used to satirise politicians.


The first samba school appeared in 1928 downtown Rio. The concept behind "Deixa Falar" (Let them Speak) was to parade to the sound of samba, and it was a hit. In 1932, journalist Mario Filho organised the first competition of samba schools. A tradition was born that would inspire cities across Brazil.


Each of the samba schools of Rio represents a specific region of the city, often a favela. However, particular schools usually have fans all over Rio and even some nationally.












Rio's city hall is investing 24 million Brazilian reals this year (about $A10.4 million). The rest comes from sponsors, sambadrome ticket sales, samba school parties throughout the year that raise funds and a group of shady gambling businessmen called "bicheiros."



After a day in silence, Rio's evangelical Mayor Marcelo Crivella delayed the traditionally opulent starting ceremony until 8.30pm. Friday only to skip it with the excuse that his wife was sick. Rio city hall eventually put out an email saying that Carnival was "officially open".

Revellers had been waiting hours at the sambadrome for the traditional handing over of the city's key to "Rei Momo", or the king of carnal delights. This has been always done with great fanfare in the past. But Crivella sent the head of Rio's tourism agency to do the honours. Rei Momo did not give interviews as usual and instead was quickly escorted out of the sambadrome by security guards.

It isn't clear whether Crivella, a retired Pentecostal bishop who took office on January 1, will attend any of the five days of parades at the sambadrome. Rio's city council has already authorised him to travel abroad on the next few days, but he has not announced where he might go.

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