”להקות רחוב בריו“

This is for all those who say that the carnaval in Rio is commercialized and not authentic. This may be true for the samba school parade in the Sambodromo, but there is more than that to the carnaval in Rio. Mainly the street bands, which play samba in the streets and people follow the band and dance samba around them.

The most famous band (and a personal recomendation of mine) is the band of Ipanema. They march from the Praca General Osorio in Ipanema along the promenade of Ipanema and return on a paralel street to the praca (praca is the word for square in portuguese). They march 3 times: Saturday 2 weeks before carnaval (this year it was 26/1/02), the Saturday first day of carnaval (this year it will be 9/2/02) and the Tuesday last day of carnaval )this year 12/2/02). The official time is 4pm, but this is of course with South American punctuality... Among the people who march and dance with the band there are many drag queens too and just people that happened to be on the beach and join the dancing with their bathing suits. It is very crowded but worth it!

Also for all the Israelis staying in the many cheap hotels in Catete, there is a new local band of the neighbourhood, called ``Os Bambas do Catete``, they sometimes play on Catete street across from the museum near the Monte Blanco hotel, and they are going to march the street too, before and during carnaval.