Samba schools: what they are, history, parades

At Samba schools are popular associations that emerged in the 1920s amid the popularization process of the Carnival and samba. These associations emerged in popular neighborhoods and suburbs of the city of Rio de Janeiro, being the Let Falar, the first samba school in the history of our country.

Samba schools acquired characteristics of other practices of the Brazilian Carnival from the beginning of the 20th century and, in the 1930s, the parades gave rise to a championship. Currently, the dispute between the samba schools is one of the main attractions of the Brazilian Carnival, above all, the disputes that take place in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

Accessalso:Senhor do Bonfim – one of the main religious devotions existing in Brazil

When and how did samba schools appear?

Samba schools are a phenomenon of early 20th century and are directly related to the development of samba and the popularization of Carnival in Brazil. The elements that gave rise to the samba schools were incorporated from a series of carioca carnival practices that had been carried out since the mid-19th century.

Brazilian music researcher Ricardo Albin establishes that samba schools have incorporated elements of the “ze pears", From ranchescarnival and of the associationscarnival that began to appear in Rio de Janeiro in the late nineteenth century|1|. Other elements, such as the influence of processionsreligious it's the privateer (practice of holding a parade in cars and throwing confetti and streamers at other revelers on the street) also influenced the development of samba schools.

• Zé Pereira, ranches and cordões

THE drums, one of the most basic elements of the composition of a samba school, it is derived from a practice that emerged in Carnival during the nineteenth century. As the Shrovetide, the game of throwing water balloons at other people in the days before Lent, became fought as a carnival practice, new practices ended up emerging and one of them was the use of music at the party at road. O JoePereira came up with the introduction of instrumentspercussive (drums) to conduct the party on the street. Thus, the batuque became part of the popular festival. Zé Pereira basically consisted of men who went out on the streets with bass drums making a racket.

At the end of the 19th century, it was established as a carnival practice, the realization of carnival ranches, a practice carried out by carnival associations. You ranches were basically blocks who graduated to running parades that often addressed important social and political issues during their performance.

The ranches, in turn, are considered an evolution of the cords, which were simpler public parades performed by groups during Carnival, in the 19th century. It is considered that the cordons and the ranches had a strong influence of religious processions that were carried out in the streets of the cities of Brazil. In the history of Carnival, it is considered that the evolutionary line is formed by the strings, which transformed into ranchos, which gave rise to carnival blocks and, finally, became Samba schools.

• origin of samba

At the early 20th century, came the samba, the musical rhythm that today is the great symbol of Carnival. There are some records that mention the word “samba” to refer to musical rhythms, but historians only consider that samba actually appeared in the 1910s, in the popular regions of Rio de Janeiro.

It is considered that the first great samba produced and the founding landmark of this rhythm in Brazil was the song written by Donga and Mauro de Almeida, named “FurTelephone”. This song was officially released in early 1917. Other samba songs had been written before, but “Pelo Telephone” gained more popularity.

Many historians who study the history of samba point out that it emerged in a region of Rio de Janeiro inhabited by blacks and mestizos, who formed the city's popular classes. This region includes places such as the CityNew and Estacio, inhabited by blacks freed from slavery and for their descendants.

O racism, very present in Brazilian society at the beginning of the 20th century, made samba openly criminalized and therefore, chased. The criminalization of samba ended when samba started to be used as a tool for Getulio Vargas to consolidate your nationalist project in the new state.

• Emergence of samba schools

The samba school parades began to be held in the 1930s and are currently one of the most significant events in Brazilian culture.[1]

the samba schools emerged in the 1920s and followed that evolutionary line mentioned earlier. Historians consider that the He leavesSpeak it was the first samba school to appear in Rio de Janeiro, and its foundation took place on August 12, 1928. It is considered the first samba school in history, because it was the first to bring together the series of elements that make up a samba school today.

The founders of Let Falar were Ismael Silva, Alcebíades Barcelos, Nilton Bastos, Edgar Marcelino dos Passos, Osvaldo Vasques and Sílvio Fernandes. Founded in Estacio neighborhood, she was only mentioned in newspapers for the first time in January 1929. Its members were involved with carnival ranches and took this experience to the development of this samba school.

The foundation of Let Falar ended up motivating the evolution of other Carnival blocks and, thus, new schools, such as Portela and the hose, emerged. In 1929, a samba competition was held between the Let Falar, the Conjunto Carnavalesco Osvaldo Cruz (future Portela) and the Bloco Carnavalesco Estação Primeira (Mangueira). Historians, however, do not consider this the beginning of the samba school parades.

Accessalso: Main characteristics of Carnival during the Modern Age

Samba school parades

The Primeira Estação de Mangueira was the samba school that won the first competition of its kind in 1932.[2]

The samba school parades were officially created, from 1932, and it is considered that the creator of this event was Saturnino Gonçalves, samba dancer and first president of Mangueira. The idea that was in progress among the samba dancers ended up being implemented by marioSon, a journalist who owned a sports journal, the WorldSportivo.

This first samba school contest featured the participation of nineteen groups, but only the first four had their position disclosed at the time. The classification was as follows:

1. First Hose Station;

2. Estácio's Second Line and Vai Como Pode (they shared second place);

3. States of Tijuca.

The fashion shows of the following years were carried out by the following newspapers: The globe, in 1933, and The country and the hour, in 1934. In 1933, the champion was again Mangueira and, in 1934, two parades were held with Mangueira and Recreio de Ramos as champions. From 1935 onwards, the samba school parades were official and they started to count on the financial support of the public power.

Currently, the criteriarated in the samba school parades in both Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo are the following:

• Drums

• Samba-plot

• Harmony

• Evolution

• Plot

• Allegories and props

• Costumes

• Front commission

• Master of Hall and Flag Bearer

Samba schools began to emerge in They arePaul, in the 1930s, and historians say that the Wash feet is the oldest samba school in São Paulo, founded on February 9, 1937. The parades of samba schools in São Paulo took place unofficially in the capital of São Paulo since the 1930s, but were only made official by the government in 1968.

In São Paulo, fashion shows are held at the Anhembi Sambadrome, founded in 1991. In Rio de Janeiro, the parades take place at the Marquês de Sapucaí Sambadrome, founded in 1984. The parades are one of the most traditional elements of the Brazilian Carnival and attract tourists from different parts of the world.

Portela is currently the biggest champion of the Rio de Janeiro Carnival parades, with 22 titles.[1]

You greatest champions of the parades that take place at Carnival in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, until the year 2019, are as follows:

• Rio de Janeiro:

Portela	22 titles
hose	20 titles
Hummingbird	14 titles
Willow tree	9 titles
mountain empire	9 titles

• Sao Paulo:

Go Go	15 titles
Nene from Vila Matilde	11 titles
cheerful youth	10 titles
Green and White Shirt	9 titles
Washbasins and Gold Roses	7 titles

already the last five champions in each of these states were as follows:

• Rio de Janeiro:

2015	Hummingbird
2016	hose
2017	Portela and Independent Youth
2018	Hummingbird
2019	hose

• Sao Paulo:

2015	Go Go
2016	Empire of Casa Verde
2017	Tatuapé Academics
2018	Tatuapé Academics
2019	Green Spot

Image credits

[1] Andre Melo-Andrade/Shutterstock

[2] Bruno Martins Images/Shutterstock

Grades

|1| ALBIN, Ricardo Cravo. Samba schools. To access, click on here.

By Daniel Neves
History teacher

Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/carnaval/escolas-de-samba.htm