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Monobloco
Unlike most traditional
blocos, which play pure
samba, Monobloco has become
extremely popular among younger people because of its
'fresh' sound, playing a mix of various rhythms such as
coco,
ciranda,
marcha,
xote,
samba-charme, and particularly
samba-rock and
funk. It continues
to grow in popularity each year, and can be seen as a symbol
of the resurging popularity in Carnaval blocos in Rio de
Janeiro. |
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| Samba is characterized by a syncopated 2/4 rhythm with a
muted beat and a main beat, usually played by a
surdo (bass drum) or
tan-tan.
Samba's roots come from
Africa, mainly
Angola, where the dance
semba was a predecessor of samba, and as
importantly from
Portugal and
Europe, which made it possible for the
relatively intricate
harmonies found in samba to be developed out of
European tradition.
Samba first appeared as a distinctive kind of
music at the beginning of the 20th century in
Rio de Janeiro (then the capital of
Brazil) under the strong influence of immigrant
black people from the Brazilian state of
Bahia.[1
In the early 1980s, after having been eclipsed by the
popularity of
disco and
Brazilian rock, Samba reappeared in the media with a
musical movement created in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro.
It was the
pagode, a renewed samba, with new instruments – like
the Banjo (samba) and the
tan-tan – and a new language that reflected the way that
many people actually spoke with the inclusion of heavy
gíria (slang). A
samba-enredo is a song performed by a
samba school in
Rio de Janeiro during its yearly
Carnival parade. The term also refers to particular
style of samba music typical of such songs. Samba-enredo
is well known internationally due to Rio de Janeiro's
longstanding status as a major tourist destination during
Carnival and to the fact that many percussion groups have
formed around the world inspired by this type of samba.
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Marchinha |
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The march of carnival, also known as "marchinha,"
is a genre of popular music that was on the
Brazilian carnival of the years 20 to the 60 of the
twentieth century, when it began to be replaced by
samba plot.
Descended directly from
popular marches they are like military marches, though
with faster, simple melodies and lively, spicy and letters
full of double meanings.
Marcha Portuguese were great success in Brazil until 1920,
highlighting Vassourinha up, in
1912, in Baratinha in 1917.
The
last major of marchinha composer was John Roberto Kelly.
Seven_Deadly
_Sins Listed in the same order used by both
Pope Gregory the Great (c. 540 – 604)in the 6th Century
AD, and later by
Dante Alighieri in his epic poem
The Divine Comedy. While 40 days of Lent which
define the end of Carnaval was instituted soon after the
first Council of Nicea it was not till Emperor
Theodosius I convened the
Second Ecumenical Council in 381 A.D., in that
these sins of temptation entered the record by
Evagrius Ponticus (345-399 A.D.) as the eight
temptations.
In the
seventeenth century, the Church replaced the vague sin of
"sadness" with sloth.
Gregory the Great is also credited with creating
Ash
Wednesday
Carnival of Venice |
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The pre-Christian history of
Carnaval has been given significant attention at this web site
and we suggest you begin
here |
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The Rio de Janeiro Street Carnaval |
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Silly hats are fun! |
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16 Marchinhas
Bandas on stages
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From Carnaval Saturday to Shrove Tuesday,
open-air dances take place throughout the city.
For 2008 the
Mayor of Rio, through Riotur, grew from 14 to 16 the number
of bands that will play on the streets of Rio. An audition among
34 bands took place during 3 days in November at
auditorium of the Sambódromo.
"In
recognition of the importance of this tradition in our carnival,
we have increased the number of
dance
bands in the city. The bands are vital to the street
carnival, for the carnival in Rio. Tourists are also fond of
them because it is a tradition of our people . These
dances are still playing the marchinhas of the carnival, which
are part of our culture, "said the
Secretário Especial de Turismo, , Rubem Medina.
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The chosen bands in 2008 are
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- Banda Talismã,
- Banda Sambakê
- Banda Arlequis do Rio
- Banda New Beton
- Banda Sol de Verão Band
- Banda Karibe
- Banda Rio
- Banda Confraria do Caroço
- Banda Flor de Liz
- Banda Encanto na Folia
- Banda Egon
- Banda Atmosfera
- Banda Lua Nova
- Banda do Arrocho
- Banda Os Elegantes
- Banda Mar Del Plata
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Riotur holds a
bandstand competition with awards based upon
creativity, colors, lightening and enthusiasm. |
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Remember to bring
your party bunda out onto the
streets |
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Brazilian people and tourists from all over the world transform
themselves into "foliões" or Carnival revellers during
the 5 days of Carnaval and increasingly, the months before and
the week after. |
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It's all in the bounce.
The key to samba dancing is a springing step most of us haven't
done since we walked home from grade school. For an adult, it's
a subversively random act of fun, an impulse to rise on one's
toes above the regimented and soulless—and it symbolizes the
spirit of play that animates Brazilian life.
Joe Robinson for LATimes.com |
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MORE FAMOUS BLOCOS |
Cordao da Bola Preta
- Friday one week after Carnival, at 5 p.m.
- Carnival Saturday at 10 a.m.
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Bloco Cacique de Ramos
is another traditional
Bloco parading downtown. |
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Barbas
and Bloco de Segunda in Botafogo |
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Bloco do Bip Bip
and Banda Santa Clara in
Copacabana |
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Bloco Meu Bem Volto Já
in Leme |
Other popular
Ipanema Blocos are
Simpatia é quase amor.
Founded in 1985 with Concentration at Praca General
Osorio in Ipanema, and then parading along the beach all the way
to the border of Leblon 2x ---Saturday two weeks before Carnival
& --- Carnival Sunday
and Banda da Carmen Miranda, |
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Cacique de Ramos, |
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Bafor da Onça |
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bloco ["blo-cush" ] and banda
["bun-dush" ] |
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everyone is welcome, and you don't need a
costume, just comfortable clothes and shoes. |
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Different Music |
- Filhos de Gandhi (afoxe),
- Rio Maracatu (maracatu),
riomaracatu.com
- AfroReggae (samba-reggae)
AfroReggae is the group that was featured in the
Oscar-nominated American documentary "Favela Rising" and also in
a Brazilian documentary "Nenhum Motivo Explica A Guerra" (No
Reason Can Justify War - |
People love
the bloco parades because it brings the Carnaval
back to the street, free,
to the people. |
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Concentration |
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People first gather at some well known spot, such as a square or
neighborhood bar. After a couple or more hours of
concentration, the band starts marching its way down the
streets. |
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Street Carnaval History |
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Entrudo |
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Playing
pranks on each other |
The early Rio
Street Carnival is said to have began in the 18th century with
the entrudo, a prank brought over by the Portuguese from
the Azores, whereby people threw flour, water, and limão de
cheiro missiles at each other.
Even rotten eggs and
vegetables were thrown at the passers by.
Meanwhile the aristocrats were conducting grand Carnaval Balls
modeled on those much admired in Paris, France.
As today there were masked people, indulging in the 7 deadly
sins overeating and drinking. It was only when the beauty of the
"ranchos" and "sociedades" (carnival groups) were introduced to
the carnival that the downfall of the "entrudo" started,
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The Rio Blocos, after slowly growing for many years, have emerged as both a great spectator attraction and opportunity to
become part of the Carnaval on the streets of Rio de Janeiro.
In fact as the City tries to focus on ORDER there
is a growing call for more permitting and restrictions from the affected
neighborhood residents. However the bull is loose and spectacular growth
continues to accelerate and the 2010 2nd year registration records
nearly 500 parades.
2010 Banda Map & Schedule
If you are in the Zona Sul hotel beach zone you are
at ground zero and can find your moving street party by listening for
the percussion.
Bloco Bola Preta now draws a street crowd of
200,000! Simpatia e Quase Amor is now drawing 100,000.
Monobloco's parade closing out the Carnaval season the Sunday after
Shrove Tuesday at noon in front of Leblon beach may set record crowds in
2007.
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Since 2004, the blocos have exploded with
well over 500 blocos. Jist for the 2010 Carnival season over 40 new ones appeared. The boom in blocos began with the growth in the internet
as we closed out the last millennium and is part of Rio de Janeiro's
determination to be a leading capital of global culture as we move
forward into the new age. But where will it end as the call for ORDER or
ORDEN from citizens of Rio Sul and the City itself grows. |
Avenida Rio Branco, in the center of downtown Rio,
exclusively for the parades of big organized Blocos. These are street
carnival groups, celebrating carnival in a much more informal way than
the big samba schools. You can participate along with everyone else,
instead of sitting on concrete stands watching an organized parade.
Since 2004, the blocos have exploded and now there are
now nearly 300 blocos with over 40 new ones appearing for the 2007
Carnaval. The first blocos started only a little over ten years
ago.
This
is the heart of the "Street
Carnival” which includes the greater likelihood of locals playing
percussion instruments with their friends at their favorite hangout as
well as the Bandstands and the many Parades of downtown's Rio Branco Avenue. These events are inclusive
and practice for the musicians begins months before the Carnaval and the
parades do not end until Sunday of the following weekend.
The Rio de Janeiro
street carnival begins in November. The street carnival are structured
in groups named: bloco, cordon, band or
rancho but they are really
about simple fun with others. If you wander in the zona sul districts of
Gávea, Ipanema, Leblon, Copacabana and Botafogo during the Carnaval you
will often find them hanging out prior to parading. This is known as the
period of Concentration.
Most bands also have
official T-shirts for sale on the spot for about US$10, to help with the
costs. They make great souvenirs, as they are sold only on Rio Carnival
days.
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famous
Carnival bands
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Banda de Ipanema
goes out on three separate days in Ipanema, followed by a
huge crowd with lots of gay revelers. The open the Carnaval
season drawing
30,000 paraders to Ipanema beach
2 Saturdays before Carnival
Saturday. Plus Carnival Saturday and
Carnival Tuesday
City District: IPANEMA
Parade: both Saturdays before Carnival and Shrove Carnival
17:00
Route: Praça General Osório, Ipanema Beach, Leblon |
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Carmelitas
Parades in the hills of
Santa Teresa as nuns.Historical parade, tells the legend of a reclusive nun that
couldn't resist the parade and escaped from the convent, just
returning at Carnaval Tuesday. The Tuesday route is the opposite
of Friday.
Carmelitas Parade. since 1991.
At the 2006 Carnaval, a team of thieves robbed
$50 million dollars' worth of Picasso, Matisse, Monet and Dali
worth of impressionist art from the Chacara da Ceu
museum in Santa Teresa during the Carmelitas parade. The
crowds provided protection from police responding to the alarm.
Concentration
at Rua Dias de Barros and Ladeira de Santa Teresa. Carnival
Friday at 6 p.m. and Carnival Tuesday at 5 p.m
City District: SANTA TERESA
Parade: Friday before Carnival 18:00 and Tuesday after
Carnival 17:00
Meeting place: on the corner of Dias de Barros and Ladeira
de Santa Teresa
Route: Dias de Barros, Alte. Alexandrino and Largo do
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Cordão do Bola
Preta Founded in 1918, Cordao da
 Bola Preta (Carnaval Group of the
Black Ball or Bloco Bola Preta) the band parades twice,
and the club has gafieira nights throughout the year,
plus Carnival Balls. Everybody knows the anthem "Quem nao
chora nao mama, segura, meu bem, a chupeta. Lugar quente e na
cama, ou entao, na Bola Preta."
Wear black & white
Concentration at Praca Maua (Candelaria)
follows Araújo Porto Alegre until the Pres. Antonio
Carlos, return for the R. of the Assembly and capsizes in the
Av. Rio Branco, returning to Cinelandia.
City District: DOWNTOWN - (Cinelândia)
Parade: Carnival Saturday 16:00
Meeting place: Rua Sacadura Crabral, 373
Route: Rua Araújo Porto Alegre, Rua México, Praça Melvin
Jones, Av. Nilo Peçanha and Largo da Carioca |
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Suvaco do Cristo
parades in the Botanic Garden District, right below
Christ-the Redeemer statue's arm. The name in English
translates to "Christ's armpit", and was chosen for that
very reason. Concentration at corner of Rua Faro and Rua Jardim Botanico.
Suvaco do Cristo was created in 1985, on the beach, by a group
of friends who wanted to go out on the street and have a good
time in Carnival. The bloco has its own samba-enredo every year,
a flag, a drum section, a mestre-sala and porta-bandeira (flag
bearer) and a group of baianas - women dressed in traditional
Bahia attire, just like in samba school parades. The bloco's
signature colors are green, blue and silver.
City District: JARDIM BOTÂNICO
Parade: Sunday before Carnival 13:00
Meeting: from noon onwards at Bar Jóia (on the corner of Rua
Jardim Botânico and Rua Faro) (Rua Jardim Botânico 594,
phone 55-21-2539-5613)
Route: Rua Jardim Botânico, Praça Santos Dummont, in front
of the Jockey Club
You can count on a big party, also at
Teatro
Odisséia, to close Carnival Tuesday evening |
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Simpatia é Quase Amor
("Friendliness is Almost Love"), parades in Hotel zone or
South Side, and is one of the larger and friendlier
gatherings of revelers
Parade: Carnival Sunday and usually on a Saturday before
Carnival.
Meeting: starts at Praça General Osório and follows the
Ipanema shoreline all the way to Leblon.
Created in Ipanema in 1985, the bloco is
named for Esmeraldo Simpatia-é-Quase-Amor, a character in
the book Rua dos Artistas e Transversais by Aldir
Blanc - with short stories about the bohemian Vila Isabel
district in Rio's North Side.
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 Monobloco
Monobloco's parade has achieved the enviable title of closing
out
the Carnaval season the
Sunday after Shrove Tuesday at noon in Copacabana along
Avenida Atlantica
In 2009 over 400,000 people
joined this bloco pulled by a 200-plus-member band. Some
police estimates hovered around 500,000. Remember the bloco
goes out early on the Sunday after Carnival and is over
before noon.
Founded in 2003,
Monobloco
began parading on the beach of LEBLON, meeting at 12 noon at the end of the beach on the Sunday
after Carnaval. The percussion band alone
has over 120 musicians.Their workshops are based on samba, but
many other rhythms are covered, such as coco, congo, xote,
and quadrilha (Brazilian square dancing).
Rehearsals at
Fundicao Progresso
in Lapa
are very popular.
City District: COPACABANA
Parade: Sunday after Carnival 9:00 am
Route: along Av. Atlantica
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www.banga.com.br (aka Banga,
pronounced BAHN-ga) started out as a Rio de Janeiro
Carnival bloco in 1998. The name "bangalafumenga" is an old
slang for a "nobody". The term also referred to the houses
in early 20th-century Rio de Janeiro where batucadas,
or samba get-togethers, were held. At the time, samba was
considered a low kind of music and black sambistas were
often abused by the police.
The bloco has about 70 performers and a strong association
with
Fundicao Progresso
in Lapa
A good place to follow the Banga schedule is
Agenda do Samba e Choro. |
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Yemanja
ceremony |
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Afoxe Filhos de Gandi Carnaval Sunday |
| 'Afoxe Filhos de Gandi' - this is not a bloco
but a religious ceremony in honor of Yemanja, goddess of the sea
- Parade starts in Copacabana opposite the Meridian Hotel at
1pm. At the end of the parade, private and fishing boats will
congregate to take people out to open water (supervised by the
Brazilian navy), where they can make their offerings to Yemanja.
Finshes with a show in the Garota de Ipanema park including a
performance by Afoxe Filhos de Ghandi - till 10pm. |
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Av. Rio
Branco
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processions take place on Av. Rio Branco, Downtown (Centro).
From Saturday to Tuesday you can see the greatest variety of
street bands there, and it is where the merry-making is at its
wildest with traditional groups such as Cordão do Bola Preta,
Cacique de Ramos, Bafo da Onça, to mention just a few. A
visit at the end of the afternoon is always entertaining
particularly when combined with a visit to
Cinelandia
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Samba
vs. Marchinhas |
"If they have
brass, they'll
usually call themselves a "banda". Either way, they'll
rehearse
for a month or two, or maybe not rehearse at all, and then they
rent a sound truck for the singers and guitarists to ride on,
and have a big parade. It's sort of a "Let's have a party!"
down-home
 approach to Carnaval. It's actually the way the escolas-de-samba used to be, way back in the old days...... Most blocos play samba or, if they have a brass band, they might play
marchinhas, the peppy European polka-type music of
old-school Carnaval. Carnaval music used to all be marchinhas,
back in the 30's, before samba was brought to Rio by immigrants
from Bahia."
Kathleen Hunt
@ /riostories.blogspot.com |
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