CULTURE-BRASIL: Rio de Janeiro Carnival Goes Global

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 10 2000 (IPS) - Brazilians have long promoted their ‘Carnaval’ as a massive national party and a spectacle that attracts tourists from around the world, but this year some are beginning to realise that the feeling of ‘alegria’ surrounding the event is exportable and is already being globalised.

‘Escolas do samba’ (samba schools), a Rio de Janeiro creation, have begun to mushroom in dozens of countries, and many foreigners will perform this Saturday in the city’s “Sambadrome” – a stadium built expressly for the enormous carnival parade.

With 400 foreign members in the group, “Unidos do Mundo” will open Saturday’s parade of Rio’s champion ‘escolas’. Most began as samba fans who then founded similar groups in their home countries based on the Rio model.

Carnival enthusiasts from overseas have stood out even before the major weekend parades – especially the Nordic and Japanese groups – due to their sheer numbers, appearance and discipline, a sharp contrast to Brazil’s informal attitude.

Many foreigners came to Rio de Janeiro to take an intensive course in preparation for the carnival party, in addition to participating in the spectacle.

They went to the large carnival warehouses, joining armies of workers to build the elaborate parade floats and sew colourful sequinned costumes and feather adornments amid rehearsals of the ‘alas,’ the different parts that make up each escola.

Carnival demands an incredible amount of organisational skill on the part of each group’s leader. Without a chance for dress- rehearsal, the director must put everything in order: 3,000 to 5,500 singing, dancing people and at least seven parade floats must complete the parade route within a 90-minute time limit.

With Unidos do Mundo, this year’s carnival is enriched by the contribution of new ethnic groups and nations. Meanwhile, similar celebrations are being held in 18 other countries, according to a survey by ‘Jornal do Brasil,’ a Rio daily.

The internationalist Unidos do Mundo was organised by Alessandra Pirotelli, a Brazilian who discovered through the Internet just how far the Rio party’s reach extended.

There are some 500 associations throughout the world based on the model established in Rio in 1929, says Pirotelli, who limited her count to those groups that have hundreds of established members on their rosters.

Some overseas samba schools have as many as 600 members, but there are also smaller groups to be found, with 100 or fewer people, which would triple the count of escolas worldwide. All are inspired by the Rio Carnaval, but many perform without all samba school components, such as the parade floats.

The growing dissemination of the carnival celebration led the United States to create the International Federation of Sambistas.

There are 50 samba groups in the United States, and Japan has 30, making the two nations the world leaders of samba outside of Brazil. Sweden follows with more than 20, and at least 10 escolas can be found in Finland.

Within Latin America, the number of amateur groups in Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Uruguay continues to multiply, often in the least suspected places. A small town in Argentina’s northeastern province of Entre Rios has turned into a summer tourist destination because of its Brazilian-style carnival, which runs from January to March.

Brazil has not explored or promoted the export of its carnival culture as it should, commented Ivan Ramirez, an Uruguayan who founded an escola do samba in his country but then emigrated to Denmark, where he takes part in another.

Foreign carnival enthusiasts attempt to import Rio’s “technology” of happiness. They come to this Brazilian city on the Atlantic to see the “largest party in the world,” and to try to understand how it is done.

Heidi Christensen, a samba enthusiast from the Netherlands, worked for the last several months preparing parade floats for ‘La Mangueira,’ Rio’s most popular escola among foreigners.

Keisuke Sakuma, from Japan, founded his version of the school, ‘Yokohamangueira,’ in his own country and brings a group of his compatriots to Brazil every year so they may learn from his favourite Rio samba school.

Brazil is “under-utilising” its creativity and ‘alegria’ by limiting its national party to just one week, observed Italian sociologist Domenico de Masi, known for his research on post- industrial society and entertainment.