Fire updates

Three of O Globo's news stories from today & yesterday about the Cidade do Samba fire:

***
BUSINESSES DONATE 1.5 MILLION REAIS TO ESCOLAS HIT BY CIDADE-DO-SAMBA FIRE; MAYOR EXPECTS TO DOUBLE THIS
By: Simone Candida and Tais Mendes
Feb. 8, 2011
O Globo link (in Portuguese) http://tinyurl.com/4qnpps5

RIO – Mayor Eduardo Paes announced this morning, during the opening ceremony of construction on the João Nogueira Cultural Center, that the escolas hit by the Cidade do Samba fire will receive an additional 3 million reais so that they can rebuild the destroyed floats and costumes. Grande Rio will receive R$1.5 million reais, and União da Ilha and Portela will each receive R$750,000. Paes expects to reach this sum by means of private initiatives. Three businesses have already guaranteed that they will donate R$1.5 million, according to Paes’ Twitter feed. The mayor said that he’s confident that new donors will appear. As of now the businesses did not want their names revealed. The mayor said that if necessary, some of the money can be raised by public contributions.

LIESA director Elmo José dos Santos said that LIESA will begin on Tuesday to erect large tents in front of the Cidade do Samba, which will be used by Portela and Ilha to re-buidl their floats. Grande Rio is occupying warehouse #7, recently vacated by Ilha. The tents should be ready in 3 or 4 days. Until then, the escolas can use the central patio of the Cidade do Samba.

According to Elmo, the escolas have already begun to make new costumes in their rehearsal halls in their home communities. Their fellow escolas are also helping; several have offered float frameworks to Grande Rio for rebuilding the floats.

“They want to parade with dignity on the Avenida. I think this will be a very emotional Carnaval. It’ll be a Carnaval with a lot of ‘chão’ .” said Elmo. [chão = literally ground, earth; in this context, community spirit, grit - KH]

Elmo said that it is almost certain that the fourth floor of the warehouses will be demolished. Construction business Delta, which originally built the Cidade do Samba, is already in the Cidade do Samba isolating the area, but the demolition is awaiting approval by the Fire Department and by the Civil Defense. According to Elmo, such reconstruction work is covered under the contract arranged when the complex was first built five years ago. The maintenance of the Cidade do Samba is the responsibility of RioUrbe, a part of the City Works.

Elmo denied the rumors that there was no fire alarm in the Cidade do Samba and that the sprinkler system has to be activated manually. He said only that there is no need to worry about setting a precedent that every time there is a fire, there might be an alteration of the rules about demoting escolas. [This is in reference to Liesa’s recent decision that no escola will be demoted this year due to the fire - KH]

He did not comment on the request by escola Alegria da Zona Sul, whose warehouse caught fire last weekend, destroying the costumes of six of their parade sections. That escola formally requested LESGA (League of the Escolas de Samba of Grupo-de-Acesso – the group below Grupo Especial] that, just as with Grupo Especial, no escola would be demoted from Grupo A this year.

“That’s a question for LESGA. In LIESA, everything was decided by consensus. The escolas all signed a document that this year no escola would be demoated. There’s no reason to think that every fire would have the same result,” said Elmo.

Next Tuesday, state representative Dionísio Lins will request that ALERJ (the state congress – Assembleia Legislative do Estado do Rio de Janeiro) set up a Special Commission to investigate the fire at the Cidade do Samba. The commission will have five members and will work for 90 days, with the option of another 30. Lins pointed out that many people who were working in the warehouses have said that there were many problems in the initial attempts to fight the fire.

***
DESPITE LOSING COSTUMES TO FIRE, GRANDE RIO, ILHA & PORTELA PROMISE TO SURPRISE THE PUBLIC
By: O Globo
Feb. 8, 2011
O Globo link (Portuguese): http://tinyurl.com/494n8kk

RIO - The members of the escolas-de-samba of Grupo Especial that were affected by Monday’s fire say they will put on a Carnaval that will thrill the public. For example, Grande Rio’s bateria director Mestre Ciça said that they were going to do eight paradinhas (fancy breaks) in the Avenida. He said that even if they aren’t in the running for the overall championship, they’ll be fighting for some of the Carnaval awards, like O Globo’s “Gold Banner” awards. [Gold Banners are given for specific categories like Best Bateria, Best Song, etc. – KH]

“Among our new elements this year, we have 15 timbals [hand drums], which at a certain moment will form the mouth of a big cauldron, with special effects involving smoke, and the queen of the bateria, Cris Vianna, samba-dancing in the middle.”

Grande Rio’s honorary president Jaider Soares said that Mestre Ciça’s bateria will definitely still be using one of its planned new elements: all the drummers will be wearing ultra-modern masks imported from New York. But they have to be bought new, since more than 350 that were in the warehouse were burned.

Jaider, too, promised a great parade for Grande Rio. According to him, there will be five floats (three frameworks have been purchased from escola Inocentes de Belford Roxo) and about 4000 costumes. He said that everything will be simpler than what had been planned. The comissão de frente [opening dance group), for example, was supposed to have one of their members transforming into a werewolf, but that is no longer possible since the costume was burnt.

For the last two days, carnavalesco Cahe Rodrigues has been using a loaned office in Barra da Tijuca to re-design floats and costumes. “We’ll put on a beautiful Carnaval, for the people. We’ll use between 3 and 4 millino reais for this reconstruction,” said Jaider. He pointed out that the most elaborate costumes – the “luxury costumes” used by celebrities who parade with the escola – were saved because they were being constructed in private workshops.

União da Ilha, too, promises a Carnaval with almost everything that they had originally planned. The costumes are being re-made in simpler form. The float of the giant spider with moving legs, which was burned, is going to be re-built from scratch. Meanwhile, this week Portela is beginning to re-make its costumes with teams of volunteers in Madureira.

***
GRANDE RIO, PORTELA AND UNIAO DA ILHA RACE THE CLOCK TO RECOVER FROM THE CIDADE DO SAMBA FIRE
By: Rafael Galdo
Feb. 9, 2011
O Globo link (Portuguese): http://tinyurl.com/4wxmphk

RIO - “Rise up, shake off the dust and get back up.” For the members of the three escolas hit by Monday’s fire at the Cidade do Samba, those famous samba lyrics [from “Volta Por Cima” – KH] have become their motto. And, after the shock of seeing their carnaval turn to ashes, Grande Rio, Portela and União da Ilha intensified their efforts this Wedneday to resume preparations for the parades. In Grande Rio, carnavalesco Caha Rodrigues spent the day re-designing costumes and floats. He’s already planning an homage to the artists of the warehouse that caught fire.

“They’ll all be on the last float. Ironworkers, decorators and carpenters who saw their work burned,” he said, explaining that he’s preparing another large float, an abre-alas (opening float bearing the escola’s name), and five tripods (small three-wheeled floats).

To put together these floats, the escola received on Wednesday two float frameworks from the escolas Inocentes de Belford Roxo and one from Unidos do Viradouro. 3000 costumes will be made using donated sewing machines that have just arrived at warehouse #7 of Cidade do Samba, where the escola will make its carnaval. As for the materials needed to make the costumes, Cahe said that it’s dribbling in slowly, and that they’re missing some items like wires and feathers.

“They’ll be light costumes, so that the paraders can have fun. Right now, we have to swallow our tears. Until Carnaval, we’re not going home. I’ll be sleeping in a hotel here in Centro.”

Grande Rio is also receiving the support of fans like 68-year old seamstress Marina Mendonça, who after 15 years without parading has offered her help. The same wave of solidarity has reached União da Ilha. Ilha’s Carnaval director Márcio André said that they’ve received 30 sewing machines loaned by a business. Other escolas, like Viradouro and Mocidade, are also helping Ilha. Ilha is inviting its fellow escolas to come to its technical rehearsal this Saturday in the Sambódromo.

Meanwhile, this Wednesday, workers from Ilha and Portela resumed float-decorating work in stands mounted at the Cidade do Samba, since the tents that will serve as the warehouses for the two escolas are not ready yet.

Portela also began making costumes in their “Little Portela” rehearsal hall in Madureira, where sewing machines have arrived on loan from neighboring escola Império Serrano. Volunteers have been meeting there.

“I took a course in headdress-making at the escola, and so I’ve come as a volunteer to put into practice what Portela taught me,” said Maria Isabel Mota, one of the volunteers. She was working side-by-side with famed escola VIPs like Natalino Maia de Melo, president of Portela’s Velha Guarda (Old Guard).