Vitor's email

Email from Vitor, my Império Serrano director of the Ala of the Devoted, Monday morning, after the terrible Wednesday when Império Serrano was unjustly and mysteriously sent down to Grupo A.. I print his letter in its entirety, along with most of the letters that Vitor forwarded, to give you a sense of the pain and heartbreaking disillusionment suffered by a good escola that is sent down unjustly. (And, bateria fans, note the long paragraph that builds up to a scream about the injustice of Imperio's fantastic bateria being sent to Grupo A.) (PS I have permission from Vitor to forward his emails to samba blogs & translate them to English, as best I can.)

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Subject; The robbery of 2009

Hi my friends of the Devoted.

Since last Wednesday I've been thinking about what I should write to you all. It's already been 5 days and I'm still not sure. I still haven't recovered from the blow.

The ala of the Devoted is 6 years old, and since then we've made great advances in our goal of making a difference with our work. We offer to our people a quality service that is something different. We have prices [for costumes] that are lower than the average, we're more organized, and in place of that we "charge" our members that they must show energy, dedication and quality during the parade.

I am certain that after 6 years, this model is working better and better. Our members are happy with the parades, and the director of the escola loves our work. Therefore, from the point of view of the ala of the Devoted, everything's going very well.

But there's one thing that has been making me very uncomfortable. I just can't face anymore coming to our "virtual space" [email] to ask everybody to be sure they sing the samba, to ask that everybody arrive on time, to ask this or that of you. I have to confess that I have run out of energy, run out of motivation. I know that I shouldn't be passing on this sort of thing to the whole group, but I can't help it, I'm really being sincere, this is how I am. I can't stand any more to be organizing everything. Because it seems useless.

It seems that everything is decided between the robbers' gang of the "animal bankers" [the street-lottery gangsters who illegally fund the rich escolas]. They can't stand to see a strong Império, a great Império. Perhaps they fear this.

The truth is that in 2009, Império had a very good parade. Worthy of being in the Parade of Champions. Everybody who paraded knows this. Anybody who didn't parade could see it in the newspapers and the websites the day after the parade. The possibility that we could be demoted to Grupo A didn't even pass through my mind.

It was one of the great thefts that I have ever witnessed in my 25 years of participating in the parades of Sapucaí. [Sapucaí = the location of the Grupo Especial parades]

I want to thank everybody for the innumerable emails of support that I received in the past few days. This ala has always been a circle of very dear friends. Thanks to [list of names...] and many others who wrote offering support and best wishes for our parade.

Bit by bit, this week, I'll be sending out the photos of our parade. They came out very well... I think you'll like them. There are also photos online. [...]

In this moment of profound sadness and disappointment I can only thank all of you for your dedication and for the help that you have given to the ala.

The people of the back line were perfect - thanks Bernardo, Lenita, Samagaio, Sylvia, Miriam, Ivo, Katya.

I was very glad to get to meet Alex and Carlos, what great guys! The folks of Omar, Claudia, Omara and Marcia, also were just wonderful - thanks for your presence and your dedication. Others new for 2009 were Marcos and Gabriela, it was wonderful to meet you this year, I hope you had a great time! [more thanks to specific people snipped]

I agree very much in the analysis of my friends [names...], much more skillful with words than I am, and therefore I asked them for permission to append below their thoughts on the robbery of 2009.

hugs
vitor


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[first appended email - name removed]

When Imperio Serrano fell to Grupo A in 2007, it deserved the fall. This year, much to the contrary, Imperio had a wonderful parade - lovely, happy and animated. It was, without doubt, the escola that most engaged the public (if not the only escola to do so) - and it became victim of a robbery. A terrible robbery, practiced by the celebrated criminals who run the Rio Carnaval. But the crime is only the latest in a long string.

Imperio was one of the best escolas of 2009, according to the spectators of TV Globo, the listeners of Radio Tupo, and the critics on the site Carnavalesco. In the newspapers, the parade was unanimously praised, especially in light of the fact that the escola had managed to put on a good carnaval despite its financial condition. Example: Instead of presenting immense but defective floats, as did Mangueira (the inclusion of Mangueira in the champions is a joke), Imperio brought to the avenue smaller but perfectly constructed floats, and - even more important - floats that made sense in terms of the parade's theme (which did not occur in the majority of parades - the case of Mocidade being the most flagrant).

I won't bother commenting on the faults of the mediocre and unprepared (corrupt?) judges of Liesa. If Carnaval continues in the hands of this current set of thieves, the movie will play over and over: the escola that rises to Grupo Especial, falls again the following year, even if it is better than all the others. [note from KH: This has happened every Carnaval that I've seen, the only exception in the last decade being the very curious case of Vila Isabel, which benefited from a very curious change in the rules that only occurred in the year that Vila rose to Grupo Especial -and then the rules were changed back.]

There are untouchable escolas.

This happens occurs right under the noses of a public power that is saddled with a subservient press - the majority of journalists who were covering the event were not in the least bothered by swapping their critical conscience for an offering of cheese balls, a plate of sushi and a few shots of whiskey.

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2nd email (name removed)

I saw all the parades with an open mind and I can say truly: only 4 escolas-de-samba had better parades than Imperio SErrano in 2009 - and they placed in the first four places, including Portela.

Imperio was robbed; hit by the gang of bandits that runs the carnaval of Rio de Janeiro.

What happened yesterday (Ash Wednesday) was, unequivocally, was not just the absolute rejection of the type of carnaval practiced by Imperio [an honest carnaval], but in fact the absolute opposite of carnaval. The negation of it.

It is hard, for anyone who took part in this parade, for anyone who was there, for anyone who felt their heart swell and who believed so much, for anyone who felt the reaction of the public in the stands, for anyone who saw the tears runing down the faces of the ladies, it's hard to take - to understand - this death - this assassination.

I would like, sincerely, to say "enough", that I'm tired, that I am done with escolas de samba, that from here on it will just be a memory. But no. I still believe. I don't really know in what; I don't know how; but I still believe. I believe very much in the force of Imperio Serrano - I need Imperio Serrano.

Maybe it would be easy to write here that, in spite of everything, it was worth it; that what matters is what we did, what we built from the ground up, from the asphalt, like a real escola de samba. But this, too, would be egoism. It would be a lie. It would be to ignore, among those that paraded, the feeling that resulted, the extraordinary feeling, that we put there, in the avenida, with every step and smile; with every measure a rare moment. But no; for anybody who was there, for anyone who make Sapucai shake with the song, for anyone who "ladeaou o miudinho" [sorry, don't know what that is - KH], for anyone who saw my Renata, beautiful, radiant with happiness, for anyone who noticed the improbable passista [samba dancer] that Joao turned into, joking and loving every second, for all those who were so happy to see the beautiful flow of the parade, for anyone who was at the parade at Imperio Serrano, whether parading or watchign the parade, whatever the results, it makes you to ask - makes you want to scream: apologies for the twelfth-place finish, to the incredible bateria of our escola. For that is what hurts.

Unlike 2007, in which we deserved the fall, this sending-down of Imperio is a scandalous blow against samba itself - and it was given by the delirious love of dirty money by the filthy bandits in public power, just as I described in the article "Shall we judge the judges?" (see link) [link wasn't included in the forward - KH]

We should not be quiet; we cannot. No more. And this will be, I believe, the official position of Imperio Serrano - to break convention - with the carnaval of the hidden "animal bankers" (bicheiros), with the filth that is called Liesa. Open your mouth to the world; shout it out. Without fear. Imperio is not an escola of thieves - and we will not go on with our head bowed despite the evidence that this carnaval is the whore of the bandits of organized crime. Imperio Serrano won't play a rigged game. Now is the time that we must take the position of pride and greatness is that is historically that of Imperio. It is long overdue. We will demand, without pause, of the mayor, that he take control of this event that is put on, in large part, with public money. The mayor Eduardo Paes, if he doesn't want to be connected to organized crime that was conceived and bought by Cesar Maia [previous mayor of Rio] needs to understand the LIESA, the Independent League of the Escolas de Samba, is immoral and is the enemy of Rio de Janeiro, whose best values insist on justice.

This is not the time to let things lie.

(And that Jorge Castanheira, president of Liesa, with his "pinta de sindico competente" [?] isn't anything more than a puppet of the animal-lottery thieves; the carnaval of Rio de Janeiro, in fact, is commanded by bandits in the control of Capitao Guimaraes, the torturer - it is lamentable that even TV Globo, showing this face, legitimizes this group of thieves as if they were a serious administrative entity.)

I have sympathy for Mangueira and especially for Mocidade - but, in this carnaval, it is quite an open question whether they should have ranked in front of Imperio. Mangueira practically fell apart in the Avenida; Mocidade exercised all the possibilities of bad taste. And what can I saw of Porto da Pedra, Viradouro and Unidos da Tijuca? What did these groups make of their spectacle if not the insolent cultivation of mediocrity?

[paragraph snipped - KH]

It costs me much to believe, naive that I am, but I am at last convinced that the result of Ash Wednesday was established exactly 12 months ago, when Imperio Serrano won Grupo A. Right then, in the moment when we rose from Grupo A, so happy and hopeful, we descended. (The same will happen with Uniao da Ilha in 2010, and escola that, in the end, doesn't deserve the rise; it has benefited this year from the persecution of Estacio de Sa.)

[paragraph snipped - KH]

But Imperio will return. Imperio is the heritage of Rio de Janeiro. And we go to the fight [rise to the challenge]. We go to the fight!

The second fall of Império

(this is a post from sambagypsy - cc'd to the riostories blog because it's highly Rio-relevant.)

I have been too overwhelmed and sick at heart recently to write any blog entries. My job has spiralled into a nightmare of endless 16-hr days (and I don't get paid hourly). I've had terribly bad news about a family member whose metastatic cancer has taken a frightening and deadly turn for the worse, and have been terribly worried about another family member with another health problem. I forgot my sister's birthday... I haven't been able to call her any day since then to apologize, because I never get done working till 1am. I spent most of Sunday miserable over the news that one of my bands had been accused of theft of a valuable leather jacket (!) and stealing of beer (well, frankly, that one's a lot more possible) and had been banned from one of the major venues in town - after a show that we'd really worked our asses off on. (A day later came another email saying oops, sorry, we found the "stolen" jacket behind a chair. By then I'd spent a whole day stressing about it.) I got called into my boss's office today to be reprimanded for the heinous act of asking my TA to help me with the impossible pile of grading that I have - my TA being the only thing that has kept my 16-hr work days from turning into 20 -hr workdays. Apparently they don't allow TAs at this school to help with exam grading... I hadn't known. Yesterday I got a crisp email informing me that one of the classes I am due to teach next fall has been drastically changed without my knowledge (they'd forgotten that was teaching it, forgot to invite me ot any of the meetings about it); this will require another dozen hours per week of prep time per week, and will turn next semester into the same nightmare that this semester has been, and the semester before, and the one before that. The news about the phys lab should have been a minor thing, and I'd shaken it off and was puttering around my room again, and then I just started to cry.

I haven't "just started to cry" like that since my first terrible, miserable, lonely time in Brazil; in Salvador in winter; when the winter gales off the Atlantic were blowing the street signs right off their poles, and I passed out in my host family's living room one day from a bleeding ulcer. The host family could have cared less; but the wonderful, sweet, underpaid, overworked cook put me to bed and made me his mom's special chicken soup.

I've worked 72 hours from Thursday night to Monday night. I had to miss two rehearsals and am on the point of just withdrawing from all of my bands. I hate this. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.

In the middle of all this, Carnaval. I did manage to see some of it at a friend's house (while typing lecture notes on invertebrate biology and plant medicines on my laptop). The only escola that was able to crack me out of my laptop daze was Salgueiro - with an incredible parade with, guess what theme, DRUMS!!! Can you even imagine a better theme?? They had some of the most beautiful floats I've ever seen - gigantic drums with acrobats on bungee cords leaping up and down to hit them - huge drums whose drum heads stretched out into huge, mobile heads of the animals who gave their lives to make the drums - an entire ala of maculele dancers - a float crowded full of actual mestres of baterias, past and present - and a drum that must have been twenty feet across with lifesize cows running across (well, people dressed as cows).

Salgueiro was the only escola that truly grabbed my attention; the only one that made me actually CLOSE my laptop and just watch the parade.

I was also pleased to see that Imperio Serrano, my beloved escola, one of the few "poor but honest" escolas in Grupo Especial, did a beautiful parade. No broken floats like two years ago when they lost! A magnificent song (they won the best song award this year) and the whole stadium singing along. I thought it was good enought that they had a shot at finishing in the top 6 and being in the Parade of Champions. Imperio's one of the few Grupo Especial escolas that does not have the (illegal) backing of major drug cartel, so it would be pretty cool to see them in the Parade of Champions.

Poor Mocidade had a pretty sketchy parade. And Mangueira, horrors, actually had a very bad parade with several float disasters. They've had some budget problems and some of their floats were actually unfinished! This is usually the kiss of death for a Grupo Especial escola. Could it be that the great Mangueira might go down to Grupo A??

Rumors started to fly that if Mangueira or Mocidade ended up last (the escola that is ranked last is demoted to Grupo A), LIESA (the league of samba schools that runs Carnaval) was going to announce that, due to special unforeseen circumstances, no Grupo Especial escola would be sent down last year.

Rumors started to fly particularly intensely that Mangueira, the famous escola of thieves and drug dealers, was pulling strings behind the scenes.

Wednesday the results came out.

SALGUEIRO WON! I was so pleased! Good for Salgueiro - they really earned it. They haven't won in over a decade.

Mangueira finished in the top 6 in the Parade of Champions. What the ... ????

Mocidade finished second to last.

Imperio Serrano was ranked last and will go down to Grupo A.

I have always known that Grupo Especial was rigged, but the fall of Imperio this year, despite Imperio's beautiful parade, with Mangueira mysteriously in the Parade of Champions despite a terrible parade with unfinished floats, confirmed it for me beyond any further doubt. Or another way to put it is - this year it hit me where it really hurt. Carnaval is rigged. Bought and paid for. I am certain that Mangueria bribed the judges to bring Imperio down instead of Mangueira - since Imperio is politically the weakest escola and can offer no bribe money in return.

I'm reminded of the old joke about an "honest" judge in Latin America: An honest judge is one who will consider bribes equally from all offerers and will, fair and honest, take the biggest bribe. (And Imperio couldn't afford to offer anything.)

So I am sick at heart this week.

I have been waiting since then for an email from Vitor, my ala director in Imperio Serrano, Vitor of the endless enthusiastic emails, who has been slaving away all year for this parade. Usually he sends an email out right after Wednesday's results. He even did two years ago, when Imperio had their catastrophic parades with floats falling apart, and was sent down for the first time. But Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday passed... and no word from Vitor. See the next post for the update.