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!