No matter how strange this sounds, one of the most well-known samba schools of Brazil will present Armenia as a part of its program during the carnival to be held in Brazil on February 17, 2007 (the carnival is not like the beautiful and wonderful carnival of Rio de Janeiro).
The carnival-an exclusive night of Brazilian national folklore-is the biggest “show” in the world and this year, a play with symbols of Armenia will be shown to more than 180 million Brazilian viewers and more than a billion TV viewers worldwide.
The Brazilian carnival originates from 1720s Portugal. Its stylish and thematic elements have gradually enriched and bonded with African poetry, rituals and beliefs, creating a special ethno-cultural phenomenon.
The music heard at the carnival is the samba. It also originates from the traditional African music, which made its way to the Brazilian colonies along with the import of the black work force. There are nine types of samba, including the carnival type. That’s why the groups participating in the contest/parade are called samba schools. The Brazilian carnival is neither a glorious, have-to-see show nor a display of half-naked exotic black women, which TV journalists and cameramen have taken advantage of. The carnival becomes more serious each year, bringing social, cultural, ecological and other themes and issues out into the light. The jury rates the carnival on a scale of one-to-ten and as a result, the schools with the best screenplay, music, ideology, dresses, great artistic imagination, etc. win each year.
As a rule, each school comes out to the parade with 3,5 thousand to 5,000 participants, as well as at least six elegantly dressed “allegoric cars”, whose composition underlines and enriches the dance and what the dance is all about. There is no fixed date for neither the carnival in Rio de Janeiro nor San Paolo. They start during Easter, better yet forty days before Good Saturday. In contrast to people’s wrong opinions, the parade doesn’t take place on the streets, but rather in squares, the so-called “sambodroms”. The sambodroms of San Paolo and Rio de Janeiro are 530-550 meters in length and have a width of 14 meters and 30-35,000 people can fit in the tribunals stretching from one side to the other.
There are hundreds of samba schools in Brazil, which unite tens of millions of workers and community service workers for whom samba is not a profession, but a lifestyle. The samba turns into something useful and occupational and allows Brazilians to solve social issues. What’s interesting is that the well-known samba schools were created decades ago on the basis of big Brazilian soccer teams and their fans. The funding for the samba schools is provided by the municipal authorities, large corporations and individuals. The carnival is already on the calendar of official events of Brazil; it takes a week and this is the vacation week for all workers of Brazil.
During the past couple of years, the Egyptian and Japanese governments and the communities of Brazil provided funding for the organization of carnivals dedicated to Egyptian and Japanese cultures. Japanese Prime Minister Junishiro Koizumi was present during the carnival dedicated to Japan and he also played an active role in the sambodrom of San Paolo with bamboo sticks. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was also one of the participants of the 2005 carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Chavez’s 5 million dollar contribution to one of the well-known samba schools played a decisive role for the school to become the champion. The theme of the show was the liberation struggle of Latin America.
The carnival takes three days and seven samba schools come out to the carnival each day. The students of each school must pass the sambodrom area in an hour. If the student’s are able to do that, they have their points deducted. For three days, starting from 10:30 p.m. at night until the break of dawn, seven samba schools come out to show their skills in song/ dance and their elegant dresses. It’s a brilliant, ardent, sometimes out of this world, vivid and an extraordinary show.
Snow is white, oil is black
Armenia got acquainted with the carnival for the first time in 1998, after the confirmation of the general consulate of Armenia in San Paolo. It was that year that the Armenian Consulate of San Paolo led negotiations with the multi-champion “Vai-Vai” (Ahead, Ahead) samba school administration. “Vai-Vai” accepted the offer to send 40-45 dancers for a visit to Armenia, but financial difficulties didn’t allow the samba school to organize concerts in Armenia neither in 1998, nor in 2000. After witnessing the carnivals that followed, the shows of high-class art of the Egyptian and Japanese people put on by the samba schools, another idea popped up to make a deal with one of the best samba schools so that the school can represent Armenia during the next carnival. The “Rosas de Ouro” (Golden Roses) samba school wanted 2.5 million dollars for that, while “Vai-Vai” said 3 million. Obviously, that was the end of the discussion, but after getting acquainted with Armenian history and culture, the “Vai-Vai” school decided to include Armenia as one of the parts of the program during the upcoming 2007 carnival. The chosen screenplay (the author is a very talented journalist and formatter, winner of international competitions Shiko Spinoza) has the title of “Fourth World-Absurd Kingdom. The screenplay is divided into three parts. By creating the three kingdoms of the world-natural/mineral, botanical and animal-the Almighty created man and united him and the animals in harmony. Then came the fourth kingdom-the kingdom of plasticity, which Spinoza calls the “kingdom of Absurdity”. However, God didn’t create plastic, but rather man himself. Made out of the raw material for oil and not subject to recycling and destruction, it threatens mankind with unpredictable consequences, pollutes the environment and misbalances ecology. In other words, this is a “kingdom of Absurdity”.
What role does Armenia play? How is it tied to the modern-day issue and the plastic material? Well-known Italian traveler Marco Polo has a section entitled “Great Armenia” in his book “Travels” where he writes: “This is where Noah’s Ark is located…This is where for the first time I saw a material, a black colored liquid, which isn’t edible, but can be burnt…that liquid can cure if you spread it on the wounds on your skin.”
The “black, dense liquid”, in other words, oil, was a discovery for both Brazilians and, to be honest, us Armenians. With that said, the “black liquid” found near Noah’s Ark is going to be one of the elements of the play written by screenwriter Sh. Spinoza for the show of the “Vai-Vai” samba school. It is worth mentioning that Marco Polo is talking about the territories of historical Armenia, which included some oil-enriched regions of the Middle East in ancient times.
Mount Ararat and Noah’s Ark must symbolize the rebirth of man and the animal kingdom and the oil discovered for the first time in Armenia had to give birth to the “kingdom of Absurdity”.
It was decided to name one of the allegoric cars representing the four “kingdoms” Armenia from the thematic point of view. In contrast to other structures, this one, which is 10 meters in length and 12 meters in altitude, has been under construction for the past two months at the closed work square of the “Vai-Vai” samba school. The work is completed under the supervision of supervising teams; the cars will come out secretly and wrapped up on the day of the carnival-February 17-near the entrance of the sambodrom. On the platform of the car, at the top of the mountain, Noah’s Ark will come out, the plateau of Mount will be covered with Armenian cross-stones, Armenian inscriptions, the 2.6 meter high Armenian state emblem and the Armenian national flag will be installed in the front. The Zvartnots series of arches will be compiled with the eagle in the center. The eagle will pull the other seven meter allegoric car, which will symbolize the nature reborn after the Great Flood. So, the two structures will be viewed as one, longer than 15 meters.
There is no doubt that this will be a beautiful scene. It will become even more impressive because the author Shiko Spinoza foresees installing three fountains to spray snow onto the peak of Mount Ararat. Spinoza has already received permission from one of the most well-known models of Brazil, Luisa Ambieli (who is currently pregnant) to stand on the front of the car dressed as a white dove, symbolizing the call of Noah, which signaled the rebirth of mankind.
Let’s not forget to mention that a new song is written for the samba rhythm each year. The singers don’t walk along with the parade; they are given special booths at the top of the tribunes where the music can be heard around the sambodrom. The best hosts of national television interpret the performances of the schools and go further in detail about what they mean. This also refers to Armenia too; the text is ready and is currently being translated into Armenian.
P.S. “168 Hours” thanks the Consul of Armenia in San Paolo Ashot Yeghiazaryan for the interesting information. A. Yeghiazaryan hopes that citizens of Armenia will be able to witness this year’s Brazilian carnival; if not by visiting Brazil, then at least by watching it on television in the comfort of their homes.