Parade of samba schools Rio Carnival 1970s

The 1970s – The schools of samba loom
The dizzying growth of the samba school brought many new problems for the parades.  Lack of both organization and discipline caused huge delays, creating intervals of hours to pass between the schools.

In 1975 the parade, which should end at dawn the following day, went through the morning, going into the heat of the 40th day following 14 hours of midsummer in Rio, leaving its members and the public tired of the long hours. At that time it was common for the public to leave Sambando parade behind the school that had the most famous battery, the Independent Youth.

Under the regency of Mestre Andre, the “Paradita” was introduced, which has become traditional. The pattern would stop when the percussionist played the instruments for a few seconds, then the pattern resumed in full harmony with the song, which caused great effect and led the public to delirium.

The sound equipment was still precarious and created serious problems in the fashion line.  An echoing corridor was created because of the buildings on the avenue.  The result was that schools with more “pass through” in the samba (an occurrence when a part of the school is singing one part of samba and the other part a different phrase), lost points in the calculation of results.  And sometimes the lights were extinguished in the midst of the parades.

The technical failures during the parades have been the cause of controversy in apuracoes, schools like Portela, meeting at that time, with two thousand components.

And in the 1970s, the radio and television shows began airing sambas but without giving much benefit to the schools.  Tourist agencies began to sell packages of carnival for Brazilians and foreigners that included tickets for the parades of schools.

The samba-plots, which until the 1960s were only sung in the road, began to be recorded on LPs.  They have always achieved great sales, which was directly reflected in blocks of schools. Up until then, the choice of the samba-plot was made peacefully.  Now it began to arouse the public interest and became cause for serious disputes in the wings of composers who received part of the profit from the sales of discs.

The bleachers were assembled and disassembled every year until in the 1980’s when the Sambadrome was built.  It was the definitive site for fashion; the model was copied by cities throughout Brazil.

The 1970s marked, too, the rise of the final figure of the Carnival. The aesthetics, creativity and care in the preparation of costumes, props and floats began to assert crucial points in the time of investigation of the competition, and cause real fascination for the parades.

Standing out among the talented was Joaosinho Thirty, a student of Fernando Pamplona.  Highlighted by his talent and polemic temperament, he worked in Salgueiro bicampeao and came out with a plot that speaks of the mines of King Solomon.

At the time he received complaints from other schools, who countered the plot was against the regulations, claiming the subject was not Brazilian and therefore was prohibited.  But the version at carnival was based on legends that King Solomon sailed into the Phoenician galleys to the Amazon many centuries before Cabral.

This parade had strong impact, showing elements never before displayed at the front of a committee formed by Bigas Phoenicians.  Symbols with all the highlights were on the floats.  Up until now the highlights were only on the floor.

Despite the success, Joaosinho Thirty moved to the then unknown Beija Flor, which was a small school in the city of Nilopolis in Baixada Fluminense.  While the man was honored for his creation and the 1975 carnival memorable, the episode was controversial.  The plot was eventually banned, considered contravention.

The greatness of the show, however, earned him the reputation of the carnival magician. The superiority of the fashion school of Nilopolis caused reactions and criticism against the so-called excessive luxury.  Joaosinho Thirty responded to critics with a phrase that became anthological:

Poor likes luxury. Who likes misery is intellectual.

Moreover, in 1975, a group dissatisfied with the loss of traditions founded the school of samba Quilombo.  The composer from the Portela School, Candeia, led the group. Its purpose was to maintain the traditions of the schools of samba, rejecting the academic aesthetic while maintaining the black culture.  In the document establishing the goals of the college Candeia said “School of Samba is people in their most authentic expressions! When samba is subject to external influences, the school of samba no longer represent the culture of our people” … Candeia died in 1978 and Quilombo lasted until 2002