Carnival blocks, carnaval blocos or blocos de rua are street bands that mobilize crowds on the streets and are the main popular expression of Brazilian Carnival. These parades fall under the term "street carnival", and happen during a period of about one month, beginning before and finishing after Carnival. Blocos usually perform Brazilian rhythms, such as

marchinha Marchinha (, also called "marchinha de carnaval", "marchinha carnavalesca" or "marcha carnavalesca) is one of several genres of music typical of Brazilian Carnival in Rio de Janeiro and Southeast Region of Brazil. The other main carnival genres ar ...

, samba,

frevo Frevo is a dance and musical style originating from Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, traditionally associated with Brazilian Carnival. The word ''frevo'' is said to come from ''frever'', a variant of the Portuguese word ''ferver'' (to boil). It is sa ...

maracatu The term maracatu denotes any of several performance genres found in Pernambuco, Northeastern Brazil. Main types of maracatu include ''maracatu nação'' (nation-style maracatu) and ''maracatu rural'' (rural-style maracatu). Maracatu Nação Marac ...

, and axé.

Rio de Janeiro

Street carnival blocos have become a mainstay of Rio's Carnival, and today, there are several hundred blocos. Block parades start in January, and may last until the Sunday after Carnival. Carnaval Blocos are found throughout Rio de Janeiro. One of the largest and oldest blocos is Cordão da Bola Preta, based in downtown Rio. Other large groups include Banda de Ipanema and Monobloco.

Recife and Olinda

Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...

, the carnival block Galo da Madrugada was registered in the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest carnival parade in the world. In its 2013 parade, the crowd following the bloco was larger than 2,500,000 people). Besides Galo da Madrugada, thousands of others carnival blocks with sizes ranging from few hundred to millions of people, perform in the streets of

and Olinda including As Virgens de Olinda, Eu Acho É Pouco, Batutas de São José, Lenhadores, Pitombeiras, Segura o Talo, Bloco da Saudade, Enquanto Isso Na Sala de Justiça and

O Homem da Meia-Noite O Homem da Meia-Noite () is a carnival block in Olinda, Brazil. The block was created in 1931 by Luciano Anacleto de Queiroz, Sebastião da Silva, Cosme José dos Santos, Heliodoro Pereira da Silva, and shoemaker Manoel Joaquim dos Santos. It p ...

Minas Gerais

Blocks are the most traditional parading type in

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

Zé Pereira dos Lacaios Zé Pereira dos Lacaios is a carnival block from Ouro Preto, Brazil. Founded in 1867, it is the oldest carnival block in the country which is still active. History The Portuguese shoemaker José Nogueira Paredes paraded at the first day of ...

in Ouro Preto, founded in 1867, is the oldest block still active in Brazil.

References

{{Reflist Parades Carnivals Brazilian Carnival Samba Percussion ensembles Carnival music

Rio de Janeiro

Recife and Olinda

Minas Gerais

See also

References