I feel exceptionally inspired these days. And it’s all because of the carnival. By now you may be under the impression that I am mocking the whole thing, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m loving it! Undoubtedly, I would love it even more if I had a chance to actually watch it live, AT the sambadrome, but not this time. To stay in Rio during these two days would absolutely ruin my budget, so I have to make do with transmissions by Globo. And if you think that my bitterness has something to do with that fact, who knows, you may be onto something.
I have recently mentioned that the samba enredos tend to be repetitive. Obviously, the genre has got its requirements and the public has got their expectations, so certain rules have to be followed. The melody line usually sounds a bit complicated at first, especially for European ears, but having listened to it a few times most people remember it rather effortlessly. The chorus or refrain is meant to be catchy as the idea is that all members of the parade and all fans of the school sing the song together. I suppose these days the problem is that all enredos sound very much alike, so it’s very probable that if you learn a few, you may end up mixing them up without noticing. Assuming that a particular one hasn’t already become your personal anthem; followers of samba schools often resemble football fans, fiercely defending their choices.
I’ve come across the diagram below which explains the formula of samba enredo. So, you begin by welcoming the audience (Alô, meu povo!), then go to the very beginnings (tempos primordios) of whatever it is you want to sing about, choose your main area (African roots, the Amazon, the Sertão or Northeastern Brazil), cram your lines with characteristic words (names of African gods and goddesses, warriors or anything related to Indians and their beliefs, famous revolution leaders or national heroes*, etc.) and then warm up the crowd, throw in a bit of magic or praise a (preferably dead) celebrity. This must almost invariably be followed by a common ôôôô or very Brazilian laia laia and we’re done! Now, since it’s an enredo, it means that the song is looped, so you sing it over and over again (until the end of the parade anyway). Easy-peasy. Ready to write your own?
And these are the most popular words in the samba enredos of carnival day 1 in Rio:
For non-Portuguese speakers, I’ll translate: amor – love, mar – sea, bahia – Bahia (the state), emoção – emotion, sonho – dream, tambor – a big drum, vem – come, vim – I came, chegando – coming, faz – you do / (s)he does, fiz – I did, ancestrais – ancestors, magia – magic, liberdade - freedom. For me the key word here is festejar – celebrate. Go on, celebrate the carnival before it’s over!
*** Some links to read more for the interested:
Maria Bonita - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Bonita
Parintins - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parintins
Enjoy it while you can! I'm jealous! ha!
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