Troca-troca

And after the Carnaval, the "troca-troca". That's the annual ritual of escolas swapping carnavalescos and porta-bandeiras and mestres this way and that. Angry escolas firing those responsible for poor results; other escolas happy to snap up talented people who were unfairly scapegoated; and, always, crafty escolas trying to lure and steal top talent away from other groups. There's only so many top people to go around, so it's a gigantic game of musical chairs. (In Brazilian Portuguese, lots of running is corre-corre, "run-run", and so lots of swapping around is troca-troca, "swap-swap.")

- Imperio & Salgueiro:
While watching the Salgueiro parade I had a moment of deja vu when the TV showed the carnavalesco's names - a couple, Renato Lage and Márcia Lávia. Hey, weren't those the Império Serrano carnavalescos too? They were! Sometimes carnavalescos will do a Grupo Especial escola and also a Grupo A escola. Well, they won Grupo A and came in second in Especial, not a bad year!! But what happens now that Império Serrano is back in Grupo Especial? A story from O Globo describes how neither escola wants to let the couple go. So they're going to split up. Renato will do Salgueiro's parade next year, and Marcia will do Império's. "Divided in Carnaval, but united at home", as they put it.

- Grande Rio:
There were many happy escolas with this year's results (see previous post), but not Grande Rio. Any other escola would be thrilled with 3rd place, but Grande Rio's been so close to winning for so long, and 3rd place stings! So they've just fired their carnavalesco Roberto Szaniecki. (You might recall Szaniecki as the fellow of Jewish descent who spoke out against the Holocaust float.) Grande Rio's president says it's because they lost critical points on floats and fantasias. He's right, they did lose points there, but personally I adored Grande Rio's flamboyant, creative floats. I can't help but wonder if Beija-Flor bought some votes (again?).
But don't feel too sorry for Szaniecki; he's already got an offer from another escola. Meanwhile, Grande Rio is said to be interested in the notorious Paulo Barros of Viradouro... yes, the man behind the Holocaust float!
Grande Rio is also firing their singer, Wander Pires, because he showed up TWO MINUTES before the parade began! They did the warm-up without him, and one of the back-up singers was prepared to sing lead when Wander finally showed up. At first he said he was in a car crash; later he said he took a tranquilizer pill to calm down, and accidentally fell asleep because he'd gotten so little sleep the previous four days. The president says that they'd given him those four days off to rest, and added stingingly "If his mother died, or if he shows a medical statement about a health problem, then we could forgive him."

Mocidade, too, says it will probably lose its carnavalesco too, Cid Carvalho, who is said to have accepted an offer from another escola. Hmm, which escola could that be?

And finally, Cubango's president - one of the two escolas being demoted from Grupo A to Grupo B - is so thoroughly disgusted with the results that he's firing EVERYBODY. "There won't be anybody left. I'm going to change everybody, from the singer on down. We didn't have much money, but we shouldn't have screwed up so much. We'll go to Grupo B determined to return to Grupo A." Boa sorte, Cubango!