Bloco- A definition & A love Story

As defined by definitio.net: 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, samba, frevo, maracatu, and axé.

Desce Mas Não Sobe (Goes down but doesn't go up...) is a popular bloco that Ingo was one of the founders of and its title is a nod towards the neighborhood and the extreme hill we live upon. The group would march down the hill, with no intention of marching back up... The group began in 2009 and grew in popularity each year. Becoming so popular that the group began trying to play in secret to mitigate the size of the crowd. When the above definition says that these street parties are the main popular expression of Carnival, they are not kidding. My first trip to Brazil in 2016 before our Rio boi was born, was for Carnival and I was able to experience this first hand. These parties are not advertised, they are spread amongst groups of friends on WhatsApp. Hundered of people show up and flood the street, street vendor glom on, and the party travels through the city for hours. During Carnival these parties may start at the crack of dawn, dusk, the middle of the night to seemingly throw party goers off. But word spreads like wild fire. And the locals are not messing around, they hop from party to party costumed and glittered for days on end. I myself had to call a time out for some serious sleep breaks.

Ingo was exstatic to play with Desce Mas Não Sobe the year that we visited. It was a secret start time at the top of the hill at dawn. The band and all of us attached gathered, maybe 20 of us with the banner and bubble guns. The cacophony began and as we marched friends and neighbors joined, and before we got half way down the hill suddenly hundreds of spectators had joined us, blocking all traffic on the narrow road and trapping us all in the sweaty dance party. Success! Eventualy the band managed to wiggle their way down and head to a nearby park to continue playing. I remember Ingo's knees were brusied for days after marching with his giant borrowed drum. Proud battle wounds...

Desce Mas Não Sobe celebrated their 10 year anniversary in 2019 and we were not able to attend, but apparently it was so successful and disruptive to the neighborhood that they haven't played since. Word on the street is that they may make a come back this year...

In 2009 I was producing underground aerial and burlesque shows in San Francisco. In the words of the SF Chronicle the shows were a call back to the speak easy era, but good luck attending as it seemed you needed a secret pass word to enter. I like to think of Ingo and I in our two completely different worlds and with totally different art forms pioneering unpermitted parties that people felt where "where it was at." We were once cool 20 somethings before we were middle aged parents. Of course we were pretty cool 30 somethings when we met working at a club in SF and bonded over our love of punk rock, craft beer and motorcycles...

To bring this full circle, the above photos are from a bloco Ingo played a few weeks ago. It is not carnaval. This was a special occasion for a couple's 30 year anniversary. The bloco paraded from the top of the hill in the trendy & historic neighborhood of Santa Teresa. It was in the afternoon and a good opportunity to join our friends with kids Rio knows. As you can see, this is Ingo's happy place. These are the moments we moved here for. Rio and the kids had a blast frolicking around and the views and old houses are beautiful. The celebrating couple joined along the way both walking on stilts and the procession ended at a very fancy house where their party would take place.

The musicians and their families were invited in and we quickly saw that this was a very lavish event. The house was gourgeous, surrounded by gardens and a pool. A staff of caterers were passing drinks and appetisers. Rio asked if he could jump in the empty pool and we gave him a resounding, "no!" We thought, well lets just stay for a drink... One by one kids in their underwear started to enter the pool, so we let Rio join. A few drinks were enjoyed, I descovered a full table of vegetarian food the likes of which I have never seen in Brazil and may have returned for a second plate. Rio discovered an entire room full of tiny cakes, that no one seemed to be touching till later in the party. Torture. But after batting his eye lashes he managed to get the baker to sneak him a few from the kitchen.

Hilariously, much of all of this happened in silence while the couple and friends recounted the entire story of their relationship. As it seemed to go on forever, we started to pack up our things, quietly say good bye to the few people we knew, and as I shoveled down the last of my amazing 2nd plate of vegetarian food on the path to the door, a bustling party planner handed me a bag of confetti. Apparently I had parked myself where this important confetti moment was to take place but no one was actually sitting. As the couple came down the path (did I mention they were on stilts for this entire ceremony?), the planner started to emphatically mime throwing confetti in my direction. I figured I owed somebody for the party I had crashed, and obligingly began tossing confetti at them.

At this moment our friend Nina appeared from between the trees as she gathered her family to escape as well and began hysterically laughing at me. And continued to retell the story to Ingo as he emerged with tears in her eyes, of the look on my bewildered face as I dutifully threw confetti on cue. Yes, always an entertainer. I never miss a cue. And I love a good gig perk ha.

Ingo has joined a very cool percussion ensemble, that will be playing this weekend and I am sure he will get lots of opportunities to play during Carnaval. So more happy times and confetti to come:)