Brazil: after two years of Covid-19, a Rio carnival placed under sign of resilience

The “wonderful city” did not hesitate to scream its joy during the kick -off of the parades on Friday. But if the pandemic has been able to appear overwhelmed, the presidential election in October, announced as that of all dangers, is already in all heads.

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And suddenly, a cry. Serious, hoarse, jubilant. Launched with full lungs by a jubilation, he rises and flies to the night sky of Rio de Janeiro. It is a little more than 10 p.m. this Friday, April 22, when the Samba school of the Imperatriz Leopoldinense rushes on the track of the sambodrome, thereby giving the kick -off of the carnival parades. And from the first salvas of Bateria, the “wonderful city” was not deprived of screaming its joy, in an exalted, almost triumphant clamor, which sounds like a return to life for a city and a country harshly tested by two years of pandemic.

“Prepare your heart!!”, Enlift the master of ceremonies in his microphone. Instantly, a thrill runs through Arquibancadas, these long concrete stands designed by Oscar Niemeyer. On the faces of the thousands of spectators, there is joy and even tears. For cariocas, no need to hide your emotions behind an anti-Cavid mask: the latter has not been compulsory for weeks.

The contamination rates are low. After a 2021 edition canceled, and a 2022 long uncertain edition and then returned to April, the city is ready for its big party. It looks like a drunk boat, ready to capsize with happiness.

 , April 23, 2022. Artists from the Samba Sao Clemente school parade on a chariot, during the Rio carnival, April 23, 2022. Silvia Izquierdo / Ap

“It’s wonderful, wonderful! So beautiful! So much emotion! Everything is different but nothing has changed!”, Immerses Artur Franco, performer of the first Enredo , this song punctuates the parades of schools. Alongside this man with a powerful voice, dressed in an immaculate costume, the whole army of Brazilian happiness is at the guard: queens, muses and princesses with feathers and pearls, Roman legionaries armed with inflatable toucans, Marie-Antoinette with purple wigs, dancing sunflowers, ballerinas, mages or pharaohs … all accompanied by allegorical tanks 20 meters high, wonder of painted fabrics and polystyrene, baroque mixture of ingenuity and resourcefulness.

Foundé found

During two nights of parade, Friday and Saturday, as in the biggest days, it is the return of the traffic jams of feathers and glitter on the 700 meters of avenue du Sambodrome. “Esplendor! Lindissimo! Gigantaaaaaaaa! [Splendor! Magnificent! Enoooorme!]” Expansion the spans, celebrating the return of the happy days and the pride found.

Several of the twelve schools in the running in the special group (the most prestigious) have also chosen to use their own history as a parade theme. So it goes from the Vila Isabela, who paid tribute to the Sambiste Carioca Martinho da Vila, or the popular Mangueira, Rose and Green, who celebrated the memory of his “gods” and founding fathers Cartola, Jamelão and Mestre Delegado.

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/Media reports.