Brazil's samba schools promise economy won't stop Carnival party

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Samba schools competing for local glory vowed Sunday to throw a magnificent Carnival party -- complete with colorful floats, masked and face-painted dancers, and intoxicating musical rhythms -- despite having less money to invest amid the global financial crisis.

Two big sources of revenue for the Carnival parades have fallen this year: Sponsorships from corporations and foreign tourists who pay for the privilege of marching with the participants.

Samba schools, lacking the money for raw materials, have scaled back their productions, incorporating plastic bottles and other recyclables into their floats.

But school members are putting on a brave face, replacing cash with creativity and enthusiasm.

"They say this is the year of the Carnival in crisis, but the party that lives inside us all has no price," said Miqueas Cherry, 30, a seamstress who helped create costumes for the Grande Rio samba school.

The $2.5 million samba-school parades are the centerpiece of the world's largest Carnival bash -- and schools compete fiercely to dominate the show.

The parades, in which Brazilian celebrities and slum dwellers dance alongside each other, take place over two nights and pit the top 12 samba schools against each other. The winning school earns bragging rights and attention from the local news media.

Samba school Beija-Flor, last year's champion and the winner of five titles in the past six years, is again the favorite. The school will parade just before dawn today in front of 80,000 spectators at the Sambadrome stadium.

Hundreds of informal, around-the-clock street parties -- celebrations that many describe as the soul of Brazil's Carnival -- hummed along outside the stadium Sunday, with the largest gathering attracting more than a half-million people.

Samba schools also staged early parades Sunday in Sao Paulo, a business-oriented city that some Brazilians say is too straight-laced to throw a proper party.

But Swiss tourist Christoph Fischer, 42, appreciated the milder version of events, noting that in contrast to the anything-goes chaos of Rio's pre-Lent bash, "Carnival in Sao Paulo is very organized."

Fernando Angelo Reis, 35, a nurse from Sao Paulo, acknowledged that the city's celebrations lacked the exuberance of those in Rio.

But "even though Carnival might be a little better in Rio, I wouldn't trade it for Carnival in Sao Paulo because of security issues," Reis said.

In Rio last week, armed men with guns and grenades invaded youth hostels, tying up scores of foreign tourists and then robbing them.

Police have since reinforced patrols in tourist areas.