Carnival blocks, carnaval blocos or blocos de rua are street bands that mobilize crowds on the streets and are the main popular expression of Brazilian Carnival. These parades fall under the term "street carnival", and happen during a period of about one month, beginning before and finishing after Carnival. Blocos usually perform Brazilian rhythms, such as marchinha,

samba Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havin ...

, frevo, maracatu, and axé.

Rio de Janeiro

Street carnival blocos have become a mainstay of Rio's Carnival, and today, there are several hundred blocos. Block parades start in January, and may last until the Sunday after Carnival. Carnaval Blocos are found throughout Rio de Janeiro. One of the largest and oldest blocos is

Cordão da Bola Preta Cordão da Bola Preta (), shortly ''Bola Preta'', is a carnival block that parades every carnival Saturday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Bola Preta was founded in 1918. The main rhythm is ''marchinha'', but several other rhythms are also played. The ...

, based in downtown Rio. Other large groups include

Banda de Ipanema Banda de Ipanema is one of the largest Carnival blocks of Rio de Janeiro's street Carnival festivities. The first parade happened in 1965, when Brazil was under a military dictatorship. In 2004 it was declared part of the city's cultural heritage ...

and

Monobloco Monobloco is a Brazilian bloco, or street band, that plays during Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro and is also a professional touring show. Unlike most of Rio's blocos, which tend play one type of music (typically samba), Monobloco has become e ...

Recife and Olinda

In Recife, the carnival block

Galo da Madrugada Galo da Madrugada (in Portuguese: Dawn's Rooster) is a carnival block from Recife, Brazil. The block was created in 1978 by Enéias Freire. Galos parades every Saturday of carnival at neighborhood. The main rhythm is the ''frevo'', but other r ...

was registered in the

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

as the biggest carnival parade in the world. In its 2013 parade, the crowd following the bloco was larger than 2,500,000 people). Besides

, thousands of others carnival blocks with sizes ranging from few hundred to millions of people, perform in the streets of Recife and

Olinda Olinda () is a historic city in Pernambuco, Brazil, in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. It is located on the country's northeastern Atlantic Ocean coast, in the Recife metropolitan area, Metropolitan Region of Recife, the state capi ...

including As Virgens de Olinda, Eu Acho É Pouco, Batutas de São José, Lenhadores, Pitombeiras, Segura o Talo, Bloco da Saudade, Enquanto Isso Na Sala de Justiça and O Homem da Meia-Noite.

Minas Gerais

Blocks are the most traditional parading type in Minas Gerais. Zé Pereira dos Lacaios in

Ouro Preto Ouro Preto (, ''Black Gold''), formerly Vila Rica (, ''Rich Village''), is a city in and former capital of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, a former colonial mining town located in the Serra do Espinhaço mountains and designated a World Herita ...

, founded in 1867, is the oldest block still active in Brazil.

References

{{Reflist Parades Carnivals Brazilian Carnival Samba Percussion ensembles Carnival music

Rio de Janeiro

Recife and Olinda

Minas Gerais

See also

References