Samba Schools Themes & Songs
Samba Schools are a type of popular association characterized by singing, dancing, rehearsing, and learning how to play the samba, often in competitive order.
Being a kind of Public Institution in the city of Rio de Janeiro, the samba schools work all year round for 1 single performance at the Rio de Janeiro Carnival. Accompanied by Drums and their components – which can be up to five thousand people – they use allusive costumes to the proposed theme, and most of these components walk, and just a minority parades on “Floaters”, where huge sculptures are placed among other props.
Having these associations often of a local nature, arising largely from poor communities or suburbs, the samba schools usually represent a particular neighborhood, sub-district, or set of districts.
As a feature of the parade, the plot, often chosen at the beginning of the year just after the carnival celebrations, will be used for the Next Years carnival.
Meanwhile, from the main theme, the carnival director should write an entire synopsis, which will guide the production of costumes, floats, and samba composition. In this aspect, the evaluators must judge whether the school explained its plot during the parade.
For the 2023 Carnival, the 12 Samba Schools parading on the Special Group have chosen the following Songs:
Sunday – 19Feb23
Império Serrano – 9:30pm
Grande Rio – 10:45pm – 2022 Champion!
Mocidade – 12am
Unidos da Tijuca – 1:15am
Salgueiro – 2:30am
Mangueira – 3:45am
Monday – 20Feb23
Tuiutí – 9:30pm
Portela – 10:45pm
Vila Isabel – 12am
Imperatriz – 1:15am
Beija-Flor – 2:30am
Viradouro – 3:45am