Portugal parades at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, filled with samba and fado

Portugal marched majestically late Monday morning down the catwalk on Rio de Janeiro’s Avenida Sapucai, Brazil’s largest temple of school samba parades that will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2024, wowed by samba and fado performed by members of Unidos. From Tijuca and a lot of people in the stands. The school, one of the most traditional Carnival parades, paid tribute to the country with a colorful and luxurious theme at the Sambadrome of Sapucaí, entitled “Portugal, a fairy tale of fado”.

The huge floats, with an abundance of colors and rich details, the skill of the artisans, carpenters and other specialists who made them, and the dedication of passers-by in playing their characters revived the era of the great Portuguese seafaring discoveries. and the courage that the sailors had to face face to face with a huge and unknown sea, which seemed to have no end and where, in addition to giant waves, frightening legends also pulsated, also depicted in the parade. Two of them were colorful and realistic highlights of the parade: the monster Adamastor, which supposedly attracted and destroyed ships that dared to approach the then-called “Cape of Storms”, later renamed the “Cape of Good Hope”, and the “Four-Headed Dragon”, which terrified sailors. who dared to travel to China.

For over an hour, Unidos da Tijuca, a samba school founded in 1931 and four-time champion of Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival parades, relived the epic experiences of the Portuguese ancestors at sea and during the Portuguese colonization of the world. At this stage, the school corresponded to the samba texts and criticized the excesses attributed to the colonizers in some episodes that seem reprehensible to us today, but were common practice in all colonizing countries at the time they occurred, chanting “Portugal, das glory that reveals to the past / The monster that bled from enslaved people/Comed to land in the sea/Which shines under the sky of Vera Cruz (as Brazil was called).”

The queen of the drums (a large group of rhythm players) was Lexa, one of the most popular singers of the time, wearing a costume decorated with more than 25 thousand crystals, made in record time by costume designer Maycon Ferrero, embodying the last Moorish queen. Aragonta, also called the Queen of Diversity. The singer considered it a “blessing” to be able to take part in such an emotional moment and said she gave herself completely to interpreting the role of Aragonte.

Thanks to the fact that Avenida Sapucai was painted in the colors of the flag, as well as peacock blue and golden yellow, the official colors of Unidos da Tijuca, the school included some stages of our Vira at certain points in its development, which is another tribute to our country . Likewise, Tijuca dared to include some fado chords in its samba, making the audience go wild and literally give goosebumps, mainly the Portuguese and their descendants, who have a very strong presence in the Tijuca region and throughout Rio de Janeiro. who loves Portugal without even knowing it.