Rio Carnival
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‘Party on! John Walsh hits the Rio Carnival’By John Walsh for The Independent First published March 3 2007
Though it's nearly midnight, it is uncomfortably warm in this wire-mesh holding pen. February is high summer in Rio, and the 38C afternoon has yielded to a 28C boiling night. Mind you, it was always going to be excessively warm inside this 2ft-high headdress, a kind of papal mitre with added pheasant feathers and black plumes. The skirt is no joke, either: built for an even more substantial tribesman's waist than mine, its straw lining scratches at my shins like nasty midget fingernails. Around my neck, a kind of horse-collar in blue, green, pink and orange extends straw tendrils over my shoulders, and is surmounted by a golden mayoral torque, like the Emperor Bokassa's lavatory seat.
I am weighed down with importance, festooned with significance, draped from head to toe in allegorical meaning. From the tiny, gnawing suspicion that I look a complete wally, I am (thank goodness) distracted by the terrible chafing of the horse-collar at the back of my neck...
"Oh, stop complaining," says the lovely blonde by my side. "We'll be on in a few minutes. Have a drink. Have a fag. You're supposed to be enjoying yourself." She's right, of course. Everywhere you look, the other dancers in this holding pen are lighting Marlboros, upending cans of lager, joshing, flirting, applying lip gloss, mucking about in the humid night, even essaying little dance steps in preparation for their big moment.
There are hundreds of us, waiting for the off. The other costumes are amazing - 200 Louis XIV shepherdesses (some resplendently male), lots of ambulant foliage, lots of clownish clockwork figures, lots of mix'n'match Cirque du Soleil-style designs in primary colours, tons of pink and purple headgear. It's all mostly polyester and sequins, but the combined effect is stunning - an explosion in a rainbow factory, directed by Guillermo del Toro. We collectively represent the Mangueira samba school - the most reliably flamboyant, the Manchester United of carnaval schools - and any minute now, we're going to erupt into the Sambodrome and knock the crowds dead with our fancy footwork. Full Article from The Independent Review by press. ‘Excerpt from 'Rio Carnival rated best festival for travellers of an independent mind'’By Amol Rajan for The Independent First published February 2, 2008
The carnival is a cause célèbre for Latin American culture. Held 40 days before the start of Lent, it symbolises the final indulgence of sensual pleasures before a prolonged period of abstention. With its street parties, music, and exotic displays, the carnival has long been seen as the highest expression of Latin American exuberance, symbolising the spirit of the people living there.
The idea of holding grand masquerades and balls was originally imported from Paris, whose extravagant public celebrations the Brazilian upper classes sought to mimic. More than a century and a half later, the Rio Carnival has been imbued with a distinctly non-European flavour. Full Article from The Independent Review by press. Have you been here? Why not add your own review. |
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