Carnival in Salvador resumes party and picks up momentum in Ivete and Luiz Caldas

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February will be time to review sacred rituals of Bahia’s carnival culture. The eyes will contemplate the colors of Ilê Aiyê in the streets of Liberdade, the ears will enjoy the drums of Olodum, the hands will settle the padê and the Filhos de Gandhy will ask Exu, the orixá who owns the street, to pass.

King Momo will lift the key to the city on February 16th, giving the password for the official start of the party. In an atmosphere of reunion, Carnival will return to the streets of Salvador.

The carnival spirit was dammed for three years, with the party being canceled in 2021 and 2022 amid the pandemic. Unlike other capitals, there was no Carnival out of season in Salvador.

For this reason, from the mega cabins to the informal blocks, the expectation is of intense parties and crowded streets. Traditional revelers are already counting the days, the sporadic ones confirmed their presence and those who are in the front line can’t wait to step on the avenue.

“Gets butterflies in your stomach, right? We stay in that heat, that adrenaline waiting for Carnival to happen”, says Adriano Nascimento, 48, percussionist for Olodum and member of the band for 32 years.

There will be seven days of festivities in the official Carnival program spread across six official circuits. Before that, there will be another three days of pre-Carnival, with Fuzuê on Saturday (11), Furdunço on Sunday (12) and parades with wind and percussion bands on Wednesday (15).

With a calmer scheme and suitable for children, Fuzuê will have parades of traditional cultural entities from Salvador. Furdunço is more like a traditional Carnival, with the difference
that only sound cars and minitries can parade around the circuit, all without ropes.

The economy that revolves around the party projects growth this year. The Bahian Hotel Industry Brazilian Association predicts 95% occupancy in hotels and inns in the capital of Bahia during Carnival, with strong demand also on the north coast.

Central do Carnaval, which sells abadás for blocks and boxes, has a 7% higher turnover compared to the same period in 2020. The result is driven by a sales base that already came from 2021 and 2022, years in which the company opened the sale of abadás and had to retreat after the party was cancelled.

Director of Central do Carnaval, businessman Joaquim Nery says that only 20% of revelers who bought abadás in the last two years asked for their money back. The others, eager for the party, agreed to keep the purchase and wait another year.

“The climate is impressive in the city, people are eager to participate. This is very visible in pre-Carnival events. I believe it will be a Carnival marked by emotion”, he says.

The summer rehearsals have been a preview, with parties from Monday to Monday and full house in shows led by Timbalada, Ilê Aiyê, Cortejo Afro, Olodum, Xanddy Harmonia, Léo Santana and Psirico.

Even the Minister of Culture, singer Margareth Menezes, made room on the agenda and came to Mercado Iaô, a pre-carnival rehearsal in the Ribeira district.

On February 2nd, the Festa de Iemanjá will also be like a kind of preview of the revelry, with the streets of Rio Vermelho taken over by bands and cultural groups.

Carnival itself will be the peak of the summer of recovery, with hundreds of thousands in the streets accompanying the afoxés, afro blocks, Indian blocks, trio blocks, bloquinhos without trio and independent trios.

In Pelourinho, the theme of the party will be Eu Sou um Carnaval em Cada Esquina, a tribute to Moraes Moreira, an icon of MPB and electric trios who died in 2020. There will be concerts on stages and parades of blocks through the streets and slopes of the historic center.

Great Carnival stars will celebrate their private anniversaries in 2023. Ivete Sangalo, who turned 50, will officially open the Barra-Ondina circuit in charge of an electric trio that will parade without strings.

In an interview with Sheet, the singer said she wanted to take advantage of the biggest popular party in the world to purge the setback. “We have never been so thirsty for the future. We are entering a year of greater hope and possibilities. We have come out of a period of retrogression and are entering 2023 on the right foot, where there is more hope, and we are going to move forward.”

Luiz Caldas, one of the forerunners of axé and owner of some outstanding hits at the party, will celebrate his 60th birthday with open parades. Under the leadership of Carlinhos Brown, Timbalada will celebrate 30 years in its block with its faithful legion of fans.

Afros, Afoxés and Indian blocks will return to its central stage and promise a parade of colors, tradition and religiosity through the streets. It was three years of difficulties for most of the entities that see Carnival as the highlight of their work throughout the year.

Salvador’s oldest Indian group, founded in 1974, the Commanche do Pelô struggled to keep the group active and its members engaged.

In February 2021, on the day the parade would take place, directors and associates performed a symbolic act and put their costumes on the doors of their homes. The following year, each in their home, they united in an Our Father, repeating the ritual they do before they hit the avenue.

“We are resistance, insistently and with no desire to give up. That’s why we’re coming back and we’re going to hold this Carnival”, says singer Jorginho Comancheiro, president of the block.

Olodum goes to the avenue with the theme Drums, the Beat of the Heart, the Paths of Eternity, rescuing the history of percussion instruments with a focus on the drums of Ghana and the
culture of Ashanti peoples.

“We will have an exciting and energetic Carnival”, says Jorginho Rodrigues, executive vice-president of Olodum. The block parades on Carnival Friday and Sunday.

SEE THE SCHEDULE

Pre-Carnival
On the Orlando Tapajós Circuit, between the Spanish Club and Farol da Barra

Sat. (2/11): Fuzuê
Sun. (2/12): Furdunço
Wed. (2/15): Block parades with wind and percussion bands

axé trios

Ivete Sangalo: Sat. (2/18) Coruja Block (Barra-Ondina) ; Mon. (20/2) Owl Block (Barra-Ondina)

Bell Marques: Sat. (2/18) Vumbora Block (Barra-Ondina); Sun. (2/19) Chameleon Block (Barra-Ondina); Mon. (20/2) Chameleon Block (Barra-Ondina)

Leo Santana: Fri. (2/17) Bloco do Nada and Camarote Salvador; Sat. (18/2) Bloco do Nana and Camarote Vila; To have. (21/2) Cabin Club

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