Mirror mirror on the wall

... who's got the best bateria of all?

O Globo Online, Rio's biggest newspaper, has a nice samba blog that's full of Carnaval news every day. Last week the blog writers posed the two questions:
1. Who's got the best bateria in Rio?
2. What are the most distinctive baterias in Rio? (i.e. the ones you can recognize from a long way away)

It wasn't exactly a scientific poll, but quite a few people wrote in, with lots of heartfelt opinions, and in the end Imperio Serrano (Mestre Atila) and Grande Rio (Mestre Odilon) came in #1 and #2 for best bateria, respectively. Hey, those are exactly the 2 baterias I'd picked out last year as the best! cool! I ended up parading with Imperio last year partly because their bateria completely stunned me when I visited their quadra.

Mocidade, interestingly, was mentioned by a couple people as a bateria that was once among the best, but is no longer. Mocidade's had some hard times the last five years - some heavy-duty politics have been going on in Padre Miguel, and the bateria's suffered as a result. As much as it pains me to admit it, I can feel this. The tempo is wobbly and some breaks have actually failed (train wreck - the bateria stalled and stopped playing. I've never seen a Grupo Especial bateria do this before!). I got in trouble last Saturday because the surdo player next to me didn't know any of the breaks. He blew break after break; he missed almost all his entrances. One director was convinced it was me screwing up, but it wasn't!!!! I hope they'll give me another chance on surdo! Anyway, the point is, I've never seen a Grupo Especial surdo player screw up like that.

But the bright side is... a lot of people in the poll also said "But Jonas is turning things around at Mocidade". Jonas has only been mestre there for 1 year and he's going all out fixing the tempo problems, encouraging creativity, and he's really turned around the bateria's attitude. And people really love him. During one of my lessons with him he got into a very interesting speech about the topic of bateria morale. He said: Always smile. He also said, if someone screws up, say to them "You screwed up", but say it quietly into their ear - don't humiliate them, and once you've said it, let it go, and go back to smiling again. He encourages ideas from members, and is using a new paradinha developed by the 16-year-old repique player Bruno. He said, make them feel that it's THEIR group. That's exactly what one of the directors said to me after I'd thanked him for letting me play - "E nossa bateria", it's our bateria.

Jonas has also been asking me to come record every rehearsal that I can - so he can listen to the recordings, against a click track when possible, to identify where there are tempo problems. He's been asking other visitors for their recordings too, and has already straightened out the bateria on some tempo glitches this way.

So... go, Jonas! Mocidade is still a much-beloved escola with a lot of great players, and with a history of great innovation. They are the escola that invented paradinhas ("little stops", the little breaks that enhance the song). And they are good people. So everyone, including me, is hoping that these wobbly things are just temporary and that they'll soon return to their glory days. I'd certainly like to think that people won't be saying "jeez, Mocidade sure went downhill as soon as they let that gringa on surdo"!

Anyway, back to O Globo's poll. Three escolas were mentioned as having a truly distinctive sound:
Mocidade, because of its caixa pattern;
Mangueira, because of its unusual surdos;
Imperio Serrano, because of its quad bells.

(Grande Rio has quad bells too, but only a few. Imperio has a ton, and really showcases them. Few other escolas have any bells at all, of any type.)

So Imperio came in both as best bateria and as one of the most distinctive baterias. Imperio Serrano! The Mountain Empire. I promptly wrote an email to my friend Vitor at Imperio asking him when the technical rehearsals are, and what the closest subway station is. I have got to get out to that quadra and spend some time with that bateria!