Leave a comment

nathskywalker April 23 2012, 21:39:18 UTC
Salvador natives will tell you that the Salvador carnaval is way way better than the one in Rio. I feel like Rio is geared towards tourists and Salvador is much rawer. Instead of costumes, local bands and singers who all sing in Portuguese on (and I'm not kidding you) huge truck things that are several meters long and decorated. They drive through the city along the road by the sea for about eight to ten kilometers throughout the day and people walk beside those cars and it's very slow, with music all day long. I think it's like 6 hours in the sun with throngs of people. Lots of people spontaneously making out and being very affectionate and then moving on.

You buy a shirt to pretty much follow the big car with the band and dance. There's people who carry a rope that separates the people who bought a shirt from the people who are just watching / dancing / whatever outside the rope and it's crowded as hell but the fun is that you don't just watch but are part of the whole thing. It's much more low-key and the songs are upbeat and very repetetive (that's part of the genre of music that's popular in Salvador). Pretty much like "Nossa" by Michel Telô where even if you don't understand the lyrics, you know they can't be very deep. I know the year I went (2007?) there was one band that played the same song ALL DAY LONG.

About an hour after band 1 has started, band 2 starts going the same route and so on. I think there are two main courses and at night, there's a third that I've never been to.

It's not as beautiful as Rio with the costumes and the feel is probably very different (no samba). It's probably not exactly what you're looking for if you want ornate costumes and dance routines. I know I prefer Salvador but I've never been in Rio during carnaval, so I'm more than a little biased.

pictures: http://www.mundodastribos.com/carnaval-2012-programacao-carnaval-salvador.html Very few.

I have no idea if anything I wrote makes any sense. I'm tired as hell and even when I'm not sleepy it's really difficult to describe. I promise to come by again tomorrow and try to explain this coherently.

Reply

adifferentdrum April 23 2012, 21:51:23 UTC
Oh no! This is very helpful! :D

Giving the Spoiler Free Version In A Public Forum™ there's a 'tradeshow' of sorts going on for super high rollers of a nefarious sort. I'm just trying to figure out which would be more luxurious and fitting of people that are too stupidly rich to live. BUT. I'm thinking the actual 'trades' of the particular 'goods' would be going down in a more discreet location where prying eyes wouldn't be an issue.

Don't worry. I'm emailing you now. :D Get some rest. :D You can get back to me after you've gotten some zzzz's. :3

Reply


Leave a comment

Up