Liverpool Samba School is hosting an event for the people of Liverpool – a Brasilian Samba Carnival for the Capital of Culture year.
The Rio-style carnival promises to be an truly exciting evening event, with irresistible rhythms, extravagant costumes and floats. In true Brasilian Samba style there is guaranteed to be plenty of glitz and glamour – but also as in Rio EVERYONE is invited to join in the fun!
This element of ‘inclusion’ was one of the main driving forces behind Roger and Maeve Morris’ plan for ’something special’ during a year where Liverpool will be firmly in the centre of the cultural radar in Europe and further afield.
The samba school has been running in Liverpool for over 10 years, and powered by the local community, with over 800 spectacular events behind them, the husband and wife team Morris decided what Liverpool really needs is a huge Rio Style Carnival! With all the hype about being Capital of Culture it was considered important for the people of Liverpool to be directly involved in a huge event -something memorable, fun and for everyone – the model of the Brasilian ‘Carnaval’ was seen as perfect for this.
In 2003, the Liverpool Samba School visited Mangueira Samba School situated in the centre of a favela on the hills of Rio de Janeiro. Although an impoverished area, we were so amazed by the activity all year round, with the whole community’s involvement in preparation for Carnival and the carnival competitions – rehearsals, costume making, float creation, and performance – singing, drumming, dancing and more.
As we learned, in Brasil, Carnival is one of the main eagerly awaited events of the year – importantly Carnival is not reserved just for the the young or the well-heeled – Carnival is a more like a state of mind where everyone is encouraged to forget their day-to-day troubles and enjoy life to the full.
During the lead up and the 3 days of Carnival time, there are street parties on every corner in Rio, with music, costume (and as we found – er foam!) What was really lovely to see however, which is sadly often missing over here – is that the whole of the community was out having fun. From children to grandparents and everyone in between, people were dancing in the streets and joining in impromptu music sessions.
Many people participate in their Samba School’s parade in the Sambodrome ( a large purpose-built samba parade stadium) for the official ‘Carnaval’ competition, part of a theme which is chosen by the school each year, with an accompanying ‘enredo’ (song.) Either as a passista, (dancer) part of a destaque (display), or a member of the percussion group ‘bateria’ there is a lot of preparation and rehearsal involved which brings the community together in the samba school buildings. The young and the beautiful are often chosen for the Rei e Rainha (King and Queen) to dance and inspire the drummers, but there are important roles for everyone in the parade performance, from the Tia Bahiana swirling in their full skirts, to floats of senior citizens waving their arms to the music – everyone does thier bit to ensure the parade is the most spectacular energising experience anyone has ever seen – the ‘greatest show on earth’
Whether folk can get tickets to the sambadrome to see the big spectacle with the cheering crowds, or party with their own local bloco (small samba bands) everyone has a samba school they support, in a similar way to football (futebol) teams – and they are supported just as feverishly! Watching the results on TV for the hot competition being very harshly judged in the Carnival competition was just as nail-biting as any cup final I have ever watched. Indeed when you ask a Brasilian which school they favour, they may reply that they are Manguiera or Mocidade or Beija-Flor… they don’t just support them – they ARE them 
The planning preparation and performance, and the resultant spectacle of the Carnival parades, involves everyone. Whether in the high profile sambodromo where Samba Schools such as Manguiera compete in the ‘Grupo Especial’ competition or the smaller samba schools and groups, music costume and dancing unite everyone in the same spirit, and just for a few special days, differences in social and economic circumstances do not stop anyone catching the carnival spirit.
In this spirit, we want Liverpool to capture some carnival magic during the Carnival being held on AUGUST 2nd, 2008 in Liverpool City Centre. Everyone is invited to join in , whether behind the scenes in the run-up or in the parade itself. Whatever you can do, whatever skills or interests you have , come forward and get involved! We will be posting on this blog details of how the preparations are going.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Contact: Roger and Maeve Morris at
rogerconga @ aol .com (remove the spaces when you use the email address please)
or Liza Lemsatef at
lizinha @ mac .com
For more pics of our trip to Rio, see the slideshow here
1 Comment
June 18, 2009 at 7:48 pm
when is the liverpool carnival this year nd any fantastic oher ones if you have the info please.