anticipated by CNN in April, plans to hold an off-season carnival in Rio de Janeiro, in July, begin to take shape. The proposal is from the president of the Independent League of Samba Schools (Liesa), Jorge Perlingeiro, who intends to make the 12 associations of the Special Group return to Marquês de Sapucaí in the middle of next year, for a smaller and non-competitive presentation.
The proposal is to make the first parade in this pocket format take place in 2023. The schools would be divided into two nights of presentations, as already happens in the Special Group. They would take about a thousand components each. The time is not defined, but it would be much less than the minimum of 60 and the maximum of 70 minutes of the main party.
“It’s a carnival aimed especially at mid-year tourists, who always want to see carnival, but don’t have carnival to see at that time. We want to make a smaller format, it won’t be something with between five and six hours of presentation, no. The proposal is to do something more dynamic”, explains Perlingeiro.
The president of Liesa has held talks with municipal and state secretariats to discuss the terms and feasibility of the party. If, initially, the idea was to address historical facts, such as the 200th anniversary of Brazil’s Independence, national heroes or tourist attractions, at least for the first edition, plans have changed.
“We can give schools the opportunity to present a different guise for the same plot. But what we really want to do is allow the associations to make small reissues of plots that take their most striking, anthological sambas”, explains the leader.
During Carnival, held in April this year, between the holidays in Tiradentes (21) and São Jorge (23), the occupancy rate of hotels in the city varied between 85% and 90%, according to data from the Brazilian Association of the Hotel Industry ( ABIH-Rio). In the period, there was no authorization for parades and processions of street blocks.
A survey by the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro, released in February, estimated that the biggest party in Brazilian popular culture generates around R$ 4 billion in the municipality.
Regular Carnival takes shape
Gradually, the 2023 edition of the greatest show on Earth begins to have its contours known. Ten of the 12 schools of the Special Group have already defined the theme that they will present at Marquês de Sapucaí, during the carnival in Rio de Janeiro. The main group’s parades will take place on February 19 and 20, meaning the resumption of the traditional Sunday and Monday dates.
The harvest is diverse. The news is on account of Unidos da Tijuca, which made the announcement this Friday (15). The school on Morro do Borel will tell the story of Todos-os-Santos Bay. However, the association only revealed the theme and has not yet announced the name and approach to the plot, which will be signed by Jack Vasconcelos.
Tributes are also part of the menu. Current champion, who took the title for the first time to Duque de Caxias, in Baixada Fluminense, Grande Rio will honor an icon of popular culture: the sambista Zeca Pagodinho, with the theme “Ô Zeca, o pagode onde é que é?” . The artist is one of the city’s symbols and a proud resident of the Xerém district.
Back to the Special Group, Império Serrano also promises to move by remembering the trajectory of samba artist Arlindo Cruz, one of the bastions of the association, of which he is one of the main composers. The musician is being treated for the sequelae of a Cerebral Vascular Accident (CVA).
The plot “Lugares de Arlindo” is inspired by one of the musician’s main hits: the samba “Meu Lugar” and promises to revisit important environments and moments in Arlindo Cruz’s trajectory, such as the samba circles of Cacique de Ramos, his passage through the group Fundo de Quintal and the relationship with the neighborhoods of Madureira and Oswaldo Cruz.
In the same neighborhood, Portela will celebrate its centenary with the theme “The blue that comes from infinity”. Still in the North Zone, Imperatriz Leopoldinense, who hired the carnival artist Leandro Vieira, twice champion for Mangueira, goes to the samba catwalk with “O aperreio do goat that the excommunicated man treated with ill-will and the saint didn’t give shelter”, a visit to cordel literature, with an emphasis on characters in Lampião’s arrival in hell.
Beija-Flor de Nilópolis will perform with the theme “Brava gente, o cry dos excluded in the bicentennial of Independence”. Viradouro, from Niterói, will tell the story of Rosa Maria Egipcíaco, identified as the first Afro-Brazilian to write a book in the country, the work “Sacred theology of divine love of pilgrim souls”. The honoree arrived in Brazil via Rio, where she lived, enslaved, and even became a prostitute, before becoming a saint.
Salgueiro will present “Deliriums of a red paradise”, a reflection on right and wrong, inspired by the work of the carnival artist Joãosinho Trinta. Deceased in 2011, the plastic artist won nine titles in the Special Group, by three different schools. Three for Salgueiro, five for Beija-Flor and one for Viradouro.
The plot of Mangueira will be “The Africas that Bahia sings”. With the departure of Leandro Vieira, the work will be carried out by the duo Annik Salmon and Guilherme Estevão. From a neighboring community to the green and pink, Paraíso do Tuiuti will pay homage to Marajó Island, in Pará, with “O mogangueiro da cara preta”.
So far, only Unidos de Vila Isabel and Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel have not yet released their plots for 2023.
order of parades
Sunday (19/2) – Império Serrano, Grande Rio, Mocidade, Unidos da Tijuca, Salgueiro and Mangueira.
Monday (20/2) – Paraíso do Tuiuti, Portela, Vila Isabel, Imperatriz Leopoldinense, Beija-Flor and Viradouro.
Source: CNN Brasil
