Brazil: samba schools return to carnival after two years of forced break
Audio 01:30
Rio de Janeiro, April 22, 2022: the carnival has resumed and the sambrome of Rio has regained its colors: Ketula Melo, 38, from the Imperatriz Leopoldinense samba school, is Iemanja, the mother of the Orixas, the deities of the nature in Afro-Brazilian worship.
AP - Silvia Izquierdo
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
First threatened with cancellation in February because of the Omicron variant, the Rio carnival was finally postponed to April.
After two years of absence, this festive event was missed by fans of the parades of the sambadrome, but especially by those who make the carnival, in the samba schools.
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With our correspondent in Rio de Janeiro
,
Sarah Cozzolino
In the Vila Isabel samba school, it's the last rehearsal.
“
Life will be more beautiful
”, predicts the refrain of the 2022 anthem. Analimar Ventapane will dance to forget the pandemic: “
It was very sad.
We have lost many friends, many colleagues.
But our strength was precisely knowing that there is carnival.
This carnival will be one of science, health, and healing.
»
Leaning over her sewing machine, Dani Joia finalizes the outfits of the dancers in the parade in the hangar of the Cité de la samba: "
I'm going to cry until I'm ashamed of it.
It's not going to be a parade, it's going to be cathartic.
We missed it so much, that last-minute frenzy.
This great moment when we experiment, that's exactly what I missed.
»
A situation aggravated by the economic crisis
Musicians, singers, carpenters, or even painters, the little hands of the parade have been strongly affected by the suspension of the
carnival
.
And
the economic crisis
has worsened the situation, explains Marcio Moura who is a choreographer: “
We had a lot of problems with the raw materials: some never arrived, and those that arrived were very expensive.
So it was a carnival of reinvention, of reusing material.
A new political and economic way of thinking about real values.
»
This Saturday evening, Márcio and his dancers from the avant-garde commission will open the parade from Vila Isabel to the sambodrome.
►
To listen: How is Brazil?
After two years of pandemic, 6 months from the elections, and in the middle of Carnival
Rio Carnival, April 22, 2022: samba schools have found their way back to the sambadrome, a “catharsis” say the dancers.
AP - Bruna Prado
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