CARNIVAL 2009 In Rio & Latin America - PICTURES

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Rayssa Oliveira, drum queen of the Beija-Flor samba school, dances on the second night of parades by the top samba groups in Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome February 5, 2008.

(Sergio Moraes/
Reuters)

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                                         Life not all a Carnival for Rio's drum queens






Stuart Grudgings
Wed Feb 18, 2009
RIO DE JANEIRO
(Reuters) –

For 18-year-old Raissa de Oliveira, there are only two seasons in a year -- Carnival, and the rest.

For most of the year, the pretty, diminutive teen-ager is a journalism student from a rough part of town. In the weeks leading up Brazil's annual festival of Bacchanalia, she becomes a cross between a pin-up girl and a star athlete as the drum queen of one of Rio's top Samba schools.

The schedule is exhausting -- gym workouts, endless media demands, and late-night "ensaios," or rehearsals, for the big competition parade through the Sambadrome -- and it shows as Oliveira enters the room in her family's small apartment.

Wearing a baggy T-shirt, sniffling and constantly yawning, she is unrecognizable from the drum queen who wowed thousands of fans at a Sambadrome practice Sunday with a blur of Samba moves and a costume that left little to the imagination.

"When Carnival is over, I have to confess that something is missing," she said. "I have to get up early and go to sleep really late. I have to divide myself in 10. But it's really good, cool and lovely."

As she spoke, a drumming band pounded out a Samba beat from underneath her apartment -- just down the road from her Samba school Beija-Flor's training ground -- underlining that there really is no escape from Carnival at this time of year.

Chosen for their looks, Samba skills and charisma, the job of a drum queen is to dance non-stop in front of hundreds of drummers, wearing little more than a minuscule costume, a feathered headdress and high heels.

Traditionally the most beautiful woman in a community, these days most queens are actresses or models chosen by Samba schools to get maximum publicity in the run-up to the three-day Carnival, which this year starts Saturday.

"'BIG BUM' SANTOS"

Every year the top drum queens are pampered by their Samba schools and drooled over by the media, with reporters following them into gyms and restaurants to document their work-out, diet, and even plastic-surgery secrets.

"I can't eat any fat, sugar or salt, and I go to the gym for at least an hour every day," said 24-year-old Juliane Almeida, who is making her debut as the queen of the Viradouro school.

An unofficial competition always rages over which queen will be the "muse" of the Carnival.

This year, a former Miss Brazil has been winning headlines as has the selection by the Porto da Pedra school of Valesca "Big Bum" Santos, a singer of the "funk" music that rocks Rio's slums and who used to work at a gas station.

The younger generation is not having it all its own way, though, as two schools chose women over 40 -- a breakthrough for Carnival drum queens.

At 18, Oliveira is the youngest queen but already a veteran, having been crowned by reigning champions Beija-Flor at the precocious age of 12. As a local talent, she is also a throwback to the age before soap opera stars and models started to move in on the queen roles.

She said she started out by dancing around the house, before parading for the first time with Beija-Flor at the age of seven. For any foreigner who has despaired of achieving the apparently natural Samba fluidity of Brazilians, the good news is that even the drum queens still take lessons.

"I have had lessons since I was a child and never stopped. When you have lessons, you perfect yourself and learn a lot more," Oliveira said.



(Editing by Kieran Murray)

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                                             Soul of Rio's Carnival in informal street parties
         





Bradley Brooks,
Associated Press Writer
–Feb. 21, 2009



Play Video AP  – Raw Video: Carnival kicks-off in Brazil


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090221/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_brazil_soul_of_carnival;_ylt=Aj1odGAxFfInXfgB8ZvKFGas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJsN2ZwbTRwBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwMjIxL2x0X2JyYXppbF9zb3VsX29mX2Nhcm5pdmFsBHBvcwMxMQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawNzb3Vsb2ZyaW9zY2E-
 AP –
… RIO DE JANEIRO

– On a street in Rio's Ipanema beach neighborhood, Juju Maravilha, dressed in a sultry gold and green sequined gown topped off by a headdress of yellow feathers, takes less than five seconds to ponder a question.

"The soul of Carnival? Why it is here, darling," he coos, pointing at a crowd of thousands gathered for one of Rio de Janeiro's more than 200 informal street marches that give life to the yearly bacchanal of music, flesh, dance and drink.

The showcase event of Rio's Carnival is undoubtedly the two-night parade put on by traditional samba schools — an ornate spectacle with thousands of drummers, dancers and meticulously designed floats costing up to $2.5 million each.

But locals and tourists in the know say the true golden center of Carnival lies in the parties — known as "bandas," which play the same traditional songs each year, and "blocos," which mix up the music each time. With tickets to the samba school parade running upward of $1,000, these free parties keep Brazil's No. 1 tourist attraction accessible to all.

"The origins of Carnival are in the streets," said Paulo Montenegro, a 48-year-old lawyer taking part in Friday's "Hit On Me, I'm Willing" bloco. "That is why blocos are so important — it is free, democratic, and passes on the traditions of Carnival."

Although the first street bashes to take place during Carnival proper kicked off Friday, the parties have been in full swing for three weeks already.

In the Banda de Ipanema samba troupe's first march, about 30,000 people shuffled behind musicians and cross-dressing dancers done up as Carmen Miranda, the Brazilian singer who helped export samba to the world in the 1940s.

"It's a great cultural manifestation. You see children, older women, men, girls, gays, straights — it's a beautiful democracy of the streets," said Juju Maravilha, or "Marvelous Juju," before turning on his heels and posing for a photo with a family.

Rio's blocos are a tradition going back about 100 years and exist in every part of the city of 6 million. Unlike luxurious Carnival parties attended by the elite and hosted in posh hotels, they're open to anyone who shows up with a smile and feet ready to dance.

"It's the most beautiful part of Carnival, and here you will see all the tribes," said Joao Jadiole, a 35-year-old mechanical engineer from Rio, as he danced behind the Banda de Ipanema, shirtless, a can of beer in each hand. "The banda is peace, love, life, liveliness — everything that is wonderful about this city."

There is little method to the madness, but the blocos begin with a "concentration": a vaguely adhered-to appointment for gathering at a plaza, a street corner, wherever.

Banda de Ipanema met on a recent Saturday at 4 p.m. in one of the neighborhood's main plazas. This being Brazil, where the only event that begins on time is lunch break, by 4:20 only a few tourists and a horde of beer vendors were there.

Around 4:30, band members began showing up, trumpeters started tooting their horns, drummers began pounding out rhythms and hundreds of people — from young families to elderly women covered in silver glitter and dressed in skimpy bikinis — surrounded the musicians.

By 5:00, after playing several traditional Carnival songs to which the crowd lustily sang along, the band began making its way down the street toward Ipanema beach and the party quickly hit a fever pitch that lasted for several hours.

Banda de Ipanema, founded in 1965 under the shadow of Brazil's military dictatorship, prides itself on irreverent political satire.

Daniel Sbruzzi, a 62-year-old who was well into his suds as the party began, said he dressed up as a female "cousin" of President Barack Obama.

"Obama is going to be a revolutionary with no negative sides. Only positive," Sbruzzi said, hiking up his blue hula skirt and righting his long, blond wig. "He is an idol for the world, and I wanted to express how he makes us all feel like we are part of his family."

Irane Carneiro, who declined to give her age but appeared to be in her 60s, wore a red miniskirt, a gold tank top, at least four pounds of beads, a feather headdress and a good inch of makeup. She tried to explain the importance of the event, which she has attended since its inception.

"If a person loves to be happy, to live life, to leave their problems behind and take to the street with thousands of friends where for a moment everything is wonderful, then they will understand the true face of Rio de Janeiro's Carnival," she said.

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Brazilian performer Juju Maravilha, or 'Marvelous Juju,' dressed in gold and green, gown topped off by a
headdress of yellow feathers, during a Banda de Ipanema parade, in Rio de Janeiro, Feb. 07, 2009.

Locals and tourists in the know say the true golden center of Carnival lies in the parties, known as 'bandas,'
which play the same traditional songs each year, and 'blocos,' which mix up the music each time.

(AP Photo/
Ricardo Moraes)

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Revellers from X-9 samba school parade during the carnival in Sao Paulo February 20, 2009.

REUTERS/
Paulo Whitaker
(BRAZIL)

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A reveller from X-9 samba school parades during the carnival in Sao Paulo February 20, 2009.


REUTERS/
Paulo Whitaker
(BRAZIL)

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French Moulin Rouge dancers pose after a press conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The troupe will take part in the Grande Rio samba school parade on February 22, paying tribute to France.



(AFP/
Antonio Scorza)
Photo

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A member of the Beija-Flor samba school gives the final touches to a float in Samba City in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It's billed as the biggest show on Earth, but this year's Carnival underway in Rio de Janeiro is also confirming the Brazilian city's reputation for crime.

Nearly 100 tourists have been robbed, many by armed gangs, raising questions over whether Rio is safe.



(AFP/
Vanderlei Almeida)

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A reveller from Tom Maior samba school parades during the carnival in Sao Paulo February 20, 2009.



REUTERS/
Paulo Whitaker
(BRAZIL)

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Revellers from Unidos da Vila Maria samba school take part in a Carnival parade in Sao Paulo February 20, 2009.



REUTERS/
Paulo Whitaker
(BRAZIL)

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A reveller from Unidos da Vila Maria samba school takes part in a Carnival parade in Sao Paulo February 20, 2009.



REUTERS/
Paulo Whitaker
(BRAZIL)

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A reveller from Unidos da Vila Maria samba school takes part in a Carnival parade in Sao Paulo February 20, 2009.



REUTERS/
Paulo Whitaker
(BRAZIL)

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Revellers from Unidos do Peruche samba school take part in a Carnival parade in Sao Paulo February 20, 2009.



REUTERS/
Paulo Whitaker
(BRAZIL)

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Revellers from Unidos do Peruche samba school parade during Carnival in Sao Paulo February 20, 2009.



REUTERS/
Paulo Whitaker
(BRAZIL)

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Reveller from Unidos do Peruche samba school parade during Carnival in Sao Paulo February 20, 2009.



REUTERS/
Paulo Whitaker
(BRAZIL)



http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Juju-Rio-de-Janeiro/photo//090221/ids_photos_wl/r2467186156.jpg/