Samba school

Each of the main schools spend many months each year designing the theme, holding a competition for their song, building the floats and rehearsing.

Each school's parade may consist of about 3,000 performers or more, and the preparations, especially producing the many different costumes, provide work for thousands of the poorest in Brazilian society.

The formal parades ("desfiles") during carnival, are a showcase of each main schools, enhanced by the participation of celebrities, fans and guests who often pay large sums of money for their elaborate costumes.

Each school displays glamour with colorful costumes and floats with special effects and is organized into different segments or "alas" (sections).

The "alas" represent different components of the school's theme, or "enredo", as they act out an homage to a myth, historic event or figure, or express their view on a social, environmental, or international issue.

Thus, each samba school parade has the "comissão de frente" (first artistic ensemble), individuals who open the parade by walking in social[further explanation needed] attires, saluting the crowds; the "ala das Baianas", or the traditional segment of Bahian African-Brazilian ladies with impressive round dresses spinning through the avenue; the "interpretes" (formerly "puxadores") (lead singers) singing the "samba-enredo" or theme-song while they play the "cavaquinho" or other string instruments; the "velha guarda", veterans of the school; the "bateria", or samba band with drums, "cuicas" and other instruments, preceded by the "madrinha da bateria", band godmother who is often a sexy female celebrity.

[9] As samba schools originated in Rio de Janeiro, they are today the most famous ones and, arguably, produce the most spectacular parades or (as it is often said) the "greatest show on Earth".

The city of São Paulo also has a number of samba schools with some tradition that is linked to an interesting mixture of African-Brazilian display of pride, immigrant or working class activism, and soccer team fondness, as schools such as "Gaviões da Fiel", "Mancha Verde" began as a singing/dancing group that cheered and rooted during matches in São Paulo stadiums.

[12] The standardization of the classifications of entities emerged in 1935 when the Rio carnival associations were required to take a charter to the Delegacia de Costumes e Diversões (Delegation of Customs and Entertainment) to be able to parade.

More than just musical groups, the schools are the neighborhood associations that cover a variety of community needs, such as educational resources and medical care.

There are often political and commercial interests involved as well, even from abroad, especially when the samba school honors the literature, music and dance, or a myth, historic figure or event from another country.

[15] The first samba school contests began in 1928 and were held at the home of Zé Espinguela, where his Conjunto Oswaldo Cruz won and Mangueira and Deixa Falar also competed for the title.

Composers such as Antônio Nassar, Armando Reis and Orestes Barbosa) had the idea of organizing a Carnival parade which was supported by local newspapers.

[18] The traditional "ala das Baianas" was a prerequisite to compete, and the schools, all with more than one hundred members, should present sambas unpublished and not use pipe instruments, among other requirements.

The official competitions of the samba schools in São Paulo only started in 1950 with the victory of Lavapés, but before that there were other minor tournaments at the municipal and state levels.

[22] In the early 1960s some organized soccer support fan groups, like the Vai-Vai (Go-Go) and the Camisa Verde e Branco (Green and White Jersey) became samba schools.

After the end of a parade, the narrator announces the school next to perform, and the sounds from the microphone, restricted to only a part of sambadrome, are released so that people can hear in the bleachers.

In its early years, it was formed by a group of men, the general directors of the college, who came in front of the school wearing their best clothes and welcomed the public.

That was the policy of its most illustrious member, Paulo da Portela, which meant that Sambistas should always go well dressed, in order to dispel the negative image of them held by the upper class.

[33][34] One of the judging categories is the allegorical floats, filled with sculptures of wood, plastic, Styrofoam and other materials, decorated to represent the elements of the plot.

[35][39] Judges assess whether the samba has a good melody and lyrics with interesting features, musically rich, reflecting the theme, and without bias or errors of language.

Currently, at least since the 1990s, the schools of the Special Group of Rio and São Paulo parade usually with three or four pairs of mestre-salas and porta-bandeira, but only the first is evaluated, the other being merely decorative, and optional.

[44] The mestre-sala seems to reflect the carnival dances of the nineteenth century, in which there was a professional organization responsible for the hall that was called "master of room" or "master-room."

With respect to the porta-bandeira, the name was a natural adaptation of the old flag-bearer character, usually male, who carried the heavy banners of Brazilian carnival groups[12][45] The visual aspect of the mestre-sala has also been compared to the Zé Pilintra of ethnic Afro-Brazilian traditions.

André was the creator of the musical effect in which the bateria suddenly stop playing during a parade, leaving only the cavaquinho (a small string instrument) and voice components for a moment.

The expected effect, considered beautiful by the critics, is also risky because it increases the chances that the samba song can mistakenly be taken up again at the wrong moment.

[12] The queen of the drums section[51] and related roles: godmother, muse, and princess are positions of honor occupied by distinguished members of the community and sometimes by celebrities.

Monique Evans, in Mocidade, Luma de Oliveira, in Tradição and Soninha Capeta, in Beija-Flor, were some notable queens of drum sections.

The old guard (in Portuguese "Velha Guarda") is a group of samba dancers older, often already quite old, often the founders of schools that no longer hold positions within the hierarchy of the party, but as a separate department, and occupy the Carnival parade in positions of honor, dressed in carnival costumes typical of samba, such zoot suits[59] in school colors and Panama-style hats.

[75] In 1985, an event that is considered integral to the history of Nene de Vila Matilde, was when the school was invited to join the parade of champions Rio, in an era where the Carnival Paulistano was much less popular and did not have a proper space.