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Feb 20
2010
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Lapa
Things get crazy over carnaval, and its hard to keep up with a blog. But its Friday after carnaval, which was supposed to end on Wednesday, and I´ve just got back from Lapa, where the party is still going strong.
Tonight there was the bloco ´So Tamborins´, which I have always been curious about. And Afroreggae, who I adore for their philosophy, their work in the favellas and their funky, tight music which forces me to dance.
First, the ´Just Tamborins´ bloco. Is it really a bloco of just tamborins? Do they keep themselves going with complicated arrangements? Isnt the sound of so many tamborins together painful on the ears? The answer is no, no and no. Theres a bateria of about 40 normal drums and 50 to 60 tamborins in front. The poor tamborim leader was rushing around exhausting himself trying to keep people playing ANY arrangement at all. Painful on the ears? Well there were very rarely more than 20 tamborins actually playing, and NEVER any two that hit the drum at exactly the same microsecond. Anarchy. Enormous fun.
I joined the bateria for a bit but in the crush under the arches of Lapa there were so many blatent attempts at pickpocketing from the crowd around the bloco that I felt like a fish in a shoal surrounded by pirranhas. So mobile phone and loose change were transferred inside the bra. There are advantages in being a large older woman, sometimes.
Manouvered through the crush to the free stage and there were Afroreggae on stage, and as good as I expect of them, but on the last song of the set. Back through the crowds to see an olodum style band playing on the pavement, with large groups of people doing complicated improvised dance steps, all moving together. And then home. It was nearly midnight but clearly the night was just getting going for most people.
And no pee on the streets! This is a first for Lapa. The large banks of chemical toilets (which have finally been cleaned after several days of use) seem to be actually working. Who would have thought it!
