Rio’s Carnival parade is back, as street bands ache to party
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro’s Mayor Eduardo Paes on Wednesday ceremonially handed control of the city to King Momo, a ritual representing the upheaval of the status quo -- but it remains to be seen how much post-pandemic partying is in store during the first Carnival in two years.
Samba schools’ elaborate floats and feather-festooned dancers will parade between packed bleachers starting Wednesday night. As for the more than 500 street parties that usually run wild through the city, City Hall refused to grant them authorization, claiming it lacked sufficient time to prepare.
That dissonance has sparked debate over whether City Hall is stifling Carnival’s essence, and if denizens should seize the streets as their own. Some organizers couldn’t care less what is allowed; they will turn out anyway — part party, part protest — and Mayor Paes, a confessed Carnival enthusiast, has said he will refrain from deploying the
Municipal Guard.
“City Hall won’t impede people from being in public spaces, from celebrating, but it’s impossible that it happen at such (large) size,” Paes said in response to a reporter’s question after giving King Momo the city’s key.
His statement echoed comments on Sunday while visiting samba schools that were putting finishing touches on their floats. The competing schools were corraled from the streets into the Sambadrome in the 1980s, and became Rio’s quintessential Carnival display for tens of thousands of attendees willing to shell out for tickets. Their parades will run through Sunday night.
In the Sambadrome’s shadow are the free parties known as “blocos”, which stream through streets and pour into plazas, many of whose members relish subverting established order. What blocos lack in glamour they make up for with glitter and grit. Costumes range from racy to outlandish, and are sometimes clev
er digs at authority figures.
Blocos had largely vanished as samba schools claimed the spotlight, but their resurgence in the 1990s dovetailed with redemocratization after two decades of military dictatorship, according to André Videira, a sociology professor at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro who has studied blocos.
Later, they began assuming forms akin to U.S. brass bands, without the need for
sound trucks or drum sections that hindered mobility. Blocos were free to roam.
“They are important vehicles for the democratization of access to culture and access to the city,” Videira said.
Since 2010, more than 150 blocos have refused City Hall’s institution of a registration process, with many viewing it as an attempt to formalize something inherently informal, Videira said. They insist celebrating
Carnival isn’t contingent on authorities’ consent — not this year, nor any other.
On April 13, dozens of musicians marched through downtown blasting their horns, banging their drums and demanding to be heard. The euphoric protest was organized by Ocupa Carnival, a group which days earlier drafted a manifesto denouncing perceived attempts to commodify and repress blocos that was signed by more than 125 of them.
“It’s important to be collectively pressuring the government, so Carnival is recognized and supported like it should be,” Karen Lino, 29, said while sporting a jaguar-print outfit that reflected her role as a dancer in the Friends of the Jaguar bloco. But she is also a member of the troupe that will lead the reigning samba school champion, Viradouro, through the Sambadrome this year. “It’s hypocritical of the government to not give attention to other sectors.”
On Tuesday, a columnist in the city’s main newspaper, O Globo, wrote that City Hall was washing its hands of policymaking duties by leaving blocos in legal limbo.
“Apparently prohibition didn’t make much sense, as the blocos bring the soul of carnival to the streets and are fundamental for the city’s spirit,” wrote Leo Aversa. “If he (Paes) thinks it can’t be done, isn’t possible, the coherent thing would be to prohibit it seriously. If he thinks there’s no problem, the right thing would be to free them with conviction.”
Paes fired back on Twitter: “The correct thing is not having blocos! They aren’t authorized and we won’t have the structure for the party.”
In Carnival’s 2020 edition, just before COVID-19 reached Brazil, more than 7 million people partied in the so-called “Street Carnival,” according to city figures. Crowds are densely packed, bottles are shared around and kissing is custom. Which is to say: a paradise for partiers, and a vector for viruses.