2009 Carnival in Rio de Janeiro promises new thrills. Robert Szaniecki, former Grande Rio Samba School carnival director, has been announced as the new carnival head for the traditional Mangueira Samba School. Max Lopes - 5 times winner of the Rio Carnival, was in charge of the Mangueira´s art and visual creations for eight years.

In the Carioca samba world, the carnival director is the most important artistic position within a samba school, similar to the conductor in an orchestra. He is responsible for making the final decisions regarding the samba schools parade theme, costumes, floats, visual scenario, special effects, and choreography. (We will be posting a specific article to describe the roles and responsibilities of a Carnival Director in Rio´s samba schools. )




Max Lopes, seen above, was uncomfortable at his post, since Mangueira Samba School was only able to obtain the 10th place in 2008 Samba School Contest in Rio, its worst position since 1994´ carnival, when it bitterly suffered 11th position.



This is a non-commercial blog devoted to wonders of Rio de Janeiro, with a focus to the Brazilian Carnival. Our sole objective is to describe how Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is magically created, its artists, dancers and musicians that make up the world’s largest show. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Carnival is over, everybody is already expecting for next years carnival. The good thing is that as popular Brazilian says: "The year has finally begun". This is so since in Brazil, many people return from their vacations at the end of the carnival festivities and business finally picks up, since there are no more excuses to the avoid the daily's grinding routine.

This year’s results, for the Rio de Janeiro samba schools "championship" of what is called the "Special Group", had no surprises. Beija-Flor ( trans. "Humming Bird" ) was declared champion again, confirming its creative and luxurious momentum since 2002: The samba school from Nilópolis, a neighborhood from the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, won 5 Carnival titles over the last 6 years. This years' theme was dedicated to the celebration of Macapá, the capital of the Amazon Region state Amapá, which celebrated its 250th anniversary. The theme was officially titled in Portuguese "Macapaba: Equinócio solar, viagens fantásticas do meio do mundo" or Macapá: Solar Equinox, fantastic voyages in the middle of the world.

Picture below from Wallace Menezes of one of Beija-Flor most impressive sculptures during the parade.



Below we posted the final scores and positions of the Special Group samba schools in 2008 Rio de Janeiro Carnival: ( We also included the links of the samba schools official sites, so you can navigate. )


Official Position - Name of Samba School - Total Number of Points - Special Group

1º Beija-Flor 399.3
2º Salgueiro 398.0
3º Grande Rio 396.9
4º Portela 396.8
5º Unidos da Tijuca 396.5
6º Imperatriz 396.5
7º Viradouro 396.0
8º Mocidade 395.1
9º Vila Isabel 394.6
10º Mangueira 393.9
11º Porto da Pedra 388.2
12º -São Clemente 387.5




Beautiful shot taken by Carlo Wrede of Drum Queen Raíssa, from Beija-flor. She is one of the youngest Drum Queen from all samba schools in Brazil. She gained the spotlights exactly because she was the only non-celebrity Drum Queen to parade within the Special Group schools. She was raised within the Beija-Flor community.


The samba schools parade in Rio de Janeiro also has a second league. It’s kind of a selection process to the main group, and is appropriately called "Access Group". The winner of this contest has the right to parade next year on the Special Group and was won by Império Serrano. See below the results of the Access Group Samba Schools Contest of the 2008 Rio de Janeiro Carnival.

Official Position - Name of Samba School - Total Number of Points - Access Group

1º Império Serrano 239.8
2º Acadêmicos da Rocinha 239.1
3º Acadêmicos de Santa Cruz 238.9
4º Renascer de Jacarepaguá 238.5
5º União da Ilha 238.4
6º Caprichosos 237.9
7º Estácio de Sá 237.7
8º Império da Tijuca 234.7
9º Acadêmicos do Cubango 234.6
10º Lins Imperial 234.

Salgueiro also had a very vibrant parade, as we can see through the lens of AF Rodrigues. The man in the Salgueiro costume is transpiring with energy!




When its time for Samba, Brazil is the birthplace and Rio de Janeiro, its present home!


This is a non-commercial blog devoted to wonders of Rio de Janeiro, with a focus in Brazilian Carnival. Our sole objective is to describe how Carnival in Brazil is magically created, its artists, dancers and musicians that make up the world’s largest show. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.