Brazil: Carnival in Your Living Room (SPECIAL)

by Jason Bermingham
It’s late February on the Tropic of Capricorn. Down the avenue surges a tidal wave of sound – four hundred drums pounding out a two-four beat. Cloaked in iridescent feathers, flapping, leaping, singing, you’re part of this swell. The bite of lemon, sugar, and cane alcohol is on your tongue. The tang of sweat, perfume, and the sea in the breeze. A fiery mulatta perched on the two-story papier-mâché float before you spins in impossible circles. Beside her is a black Adonis. Wearing nothing but a sequined G-string, he flaunts his oiled body in Freddy-Mercury style. The samba quickens, your toes clench. It’s two o’clock in the morning, and the party’s just beginning.

Then the phone rings – and you wake up on the couch. The remote control is on the floor, the television screen is a scramble of gray fuzz, and saliva has dribbled onto the collar of your pajamas. Like some transplanted, tropical Dorothy, you’re not in Rio anymore.

When the ringing stops, drowsiness overtakes you. The couch pulls you back into its arms and suddenly the hiss of the TV screen is the roar of sixty thousand men and women in the bleachers. The lights of the Sambódromo are upon you. This time it’s you wearing the G-string, and you’ve never danced so well. People sing your name, a chorus ringing in your ears. You feel dizzy, disoriented. You fall. Someone beautiful, with breath like eucalyptus leaves, catches you. Whispers words into your ear, a language vaguely familiar. Could it be Portuguese?

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This week Brazil kicks off the world’s biggest party – a bacchanal of color, music, and dance from which the country won’t regain consciousness until early March. Unfortunately, many Americans won’t be in Brazil to live out their Carnaval-time fantasies in 2006. With orange-level terrorist alerts, a devalued dollar, and repercussions from the United States’ stringent new immigration policies, the Rio de Janeiro Sambódromo has never seemed farther away. But the essence of Carnaval is spirit, not geography – so if you can’t go to Rio, why not bring Rio to you? This article offers five easy-to-follow steps that promise to transform your living room into a Sambódromo.

STEP 1: SEND OUT THE TICKETS
While Carnaval is a nationwide festival in Brazil, stretching from the shores of the Amazon River to the villages of the country’s deep south, no place conveys the spirit of revelry as well as Rio de Janeiro’s Sambodrómo. This enormous, concrete runway is the epicenter of Brazil’s Carnaval quake. Globo TV, the country’s largest media group, broadcasts the Sunday and Monday evening parades nationwide, and no matter where you are, all eyes are on Rio.

Note: Rio de Janeiro’s Sambódromo was completed in 1984. The structure, comprising a nearly half-mile long cement strip lined on both sides by massive grandstands, is about as visually appealing as Brazil’s drab capital city Brasília. Not coincidentally, both were designed by renowned Brazilian architect Oscar Nieymeyer. Carnaval, however, draws a more colorful crowd than does politics and the austerity of the Sambódromo only serves to draw more attention to the explosive color and energy of the samba schools themselves.

The Sambódromo, however, is a tough party to crash. Tickets are sold-out well in advance, and most tourists are obliged to buy from tour operators or, worse, scalpers. So to make your Sambódromo soirée authentic, I suggest tickets instead of invitations. No charge required, but be sure to add color and creativity. You might also trace the evolution of Carnaval from the Middle Ages to your living room. Carna Vale, remember, is Latin for ‘farewell to meat’, one last blowout before the forty days of Lent beginning on Ash Wednesday. But of course Carnaval has less religious connotations as well. Especially in Brazil where it has been transformed into a tasty feijoada of Latin culture, African rhythms, and indigenous flare. It is an explosion of joy, sexuality, and imagination that aims to disintegrate social hierarchy and release frustrations.

STEP 2: CHOOSE A THEME
Each of the samba schools in Rio’s Carnaval parade follows its own theme. This enredo is the unifying motif behind the samba, costumes and floats. To make your Sambódromo come to life, choose a theme as well, and your guests to dress accordingly. Go crazy – feathers, body paint, and glitter. Load up on the confetti. Hand out disposable cameras (what‘s a gringo in Rio without a camera?) Teach guests some expressions in Brazilian Portuguese. Boa noite! (good evening!) Estava com saudades! (I’ve missed you!) Viva Brasil! Viva Carnaval! (Long live Brazil! Long live Carnival!). Americans will do things in Portuguese they wouldn’t dream of doing in English.

STEP 3: MIX THE DRINKS
If you were hoping for a keg party, we‘ve got good news. Beer is the drink of choice at the Rio Sambódromo. In fact, Brahma (one of the better known brands) owns the sky box where crème de la crème like Arnold Swarzenegger and Barbara Bush hang out. And for a slightly more dangerous festa, try serving one of Brazil’s best known alcoholic beverages: the caipirinha. Simple and sweet, but deceptive, this mixture of lemon, sugar, and cane alcohol (called cachaça or pinga) is the perfect fuel for a night of samba and a morning of regrets. But beware: one or two glasses and your guests will think they’ve really flown to Rio.

Here’s a per-glass recipe:
1 lime
1 shot of cachaça
1 tablespoon of sugar
½ cup ice cubes

Preparation:
Wash the lime, then loosen up the juices by rolling it in your hand. Cut into quarters and place the pieces in a glass. Add sugar and crush lime (pulp side up) with a wooden spoon. Finally, pour the cachaça into the glass, add ice and stir. The drink can be decorated with slices of lime. No pinga? No problem. With vodka, the drink is called a caipiroska. With white rum, it becomes a caipiríssima.

STEP 4: CALL IN THE DRUMMERS
Carnaval is a loud affair, and at the core of the commotion is samba. First performed at Rio Carnival in 1917, samba’s origins go back much further. Old African rhythms, notably the Angolan tam-tam, provided the basis for its music and distinctive dance steps. With the advent of radio and records, samba caught on quickly and has since become a national symbol. It is the music of the masses. The beating heart of Brazil.
If you don’t know a few hundred drummers to invite to your party, here’s the next best thing: the Rio de Janeiro state government releases a CD every year that features the sambas de enredo that will be played in the Sambódromo. For Portuguese aficionados, all lyrics are included. It’s as close as you can get to the sound of the Rio Sambódromo without leaving the northern hemisphere.

STEP 5: START DANCING
Now for the hard part. Dancing samba is like setting your feet on fire while keeping your upper body absolutely still. More technically, it is a 2/4 dance that incorporates the Latin hip swing with a continuous knee flexing called the ’samba bounce’. Brazilian babies can do the samba bounce before they leave the maternity ward. For gringo’s, however, it’s a different story. But it should also be remembered that samba dancing, like Portuguese-speaking, tends to improve in direct proportion to the number of caipirinhas consumed.

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The rest is up to you (and perhaps King Momo, the King of Carnaval). So print your tickets, buy the CD, whip up a few caipirinhas, and before you know it, you’ll have transformed your living room into a do-it-yourself Sambódromo. If the neighbors complain, invite them over. If the police show up, serve them drinks. Yell ‘Viva Brasil!’ at the top of your lungs. Let your legs blur into dance. Before you know it, it’ll be two o’clock in the morning and the party will just be starting. Perhaps you’ll feel dizzy, disorientated. Even fall to the floor. Amid the clamor of beating drums. The bittersweet taste of lime, sugar and cachaça on your tongue. And somebody whispering words into your ear. A language that sounds vaguely familiar. It might be Portuguese!