Tira o pé do chão! A non-samba mixtape for Carnaval 2012. [more inside]
posted by Tom-B on Feb 17, 2012 - 21 comments

Carnaval (or Carnival) week is over in Brazil, and the judges have decided: the winning samba schools of the two main parades in the country, Rio and São Paulo, were Beija-Flor and Vai-Vai. And both chose musicians as their themes. Beija-Flor honored Roberto Carlos, known as the king of Brazilian music. From his origins in Jovem Guarda (an early form of Brazilian pop and rock'n'roll) to the adoption of romantic melodies, he is considered a living Elvis Presley. Vai-Vai, on the other hand, chose as a subject João Carlos Martins - whose life could be a MeFi post in itself. [more inside]
posted by Trielli on Mar 9, 2011 - 2 comments

Conduct the Bateria. Carnival in Rio: play yourself a samba school drums section. The animation lets you conduct the samba, along with master Ciça. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Mar 8, 2011 - 17 comments

Vintage Brazilian Carnaval seen through old family album pictures. SLGallery. SFW.
posted by Tom-B on Mar 6, 2011 - 2 comments

Should you be attending this year's carnival in Rio, you probably won't be seeing a huge float rolling down the parade route depicting an enormous pile of emaciated corpses and a samba-dancing Hitler. But that's only thanks to a Brazilian judge's decision.
posted by flapjax at midnite on Jan 31, 2008 - 53 comments

So, carnival is over in Rio, but festivities continue until Sunday in Salvador and other northeastern cities in Brazil. In Rio's samba parade, Beija-Flor was the winner, but Mangueira, last year's winner, came in as a very close second. But what am I saying - gotta go get some sleep. See you all here in 2004!
posted by falameufilho on Mar 5, 2003 - 3 comments

There Is Only One Carnival... but a lot of sambas to go with it. Get Rio de Janeiro's 2003 songs here and, at least spiritually, join the escola (school) of your choice. It's the real stuff, guaranteed to put a spring in your step. If you get the French Fashion TV channel, you can watch the desfiles (parades) live! Oba! Oba![Some Real, WM or something required - forgive the indefinition, I'm just back from the first Carnival party and a bit drubk. Last year's songs were featured in this post.]
posted by MiguelCardoso on Mar 1, 2003 - 8 comments

Not Flying Down To Rio For The Carnival? Never mind! Beat the crowds but catch the beat by listening to this year's terrific sambas before the rest of the world can. This is the real shanty-town stuff, not the watered-down touristy rubbish[WindowsMedia required]that passes for Samba. This year my favourite for first prize is Mangueira. What's yours? The Brazilian Carnival[learn all about it here] starts Saturday and goes on straight through to Tuesday. For the latest inside information - including the Bin Laden Mask controversy - O Globo's special web site[In Portuguese]is unbeatable. Enjoy!
posted by MiguelCardoso on Feb 6, 2002 - 13 comments