Brazil: Samba troupes gear up for annual Carnival parades

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Brazil: Samba troupes gear up for annual Carnival parades

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With less than two weeks to go for the world's most famous Carnival bash, Rio de Janeiro's samba troupes are working at full steam to get ready for the city's lavish parades.

24 February,2011 02:54 am

At the City of Samba hundreds of workers of the Beija-Flor troupe, or Hummingbird, spend hours building and painting huge floats that barely fit inside their shed. Earlier this month, a large fire hit the City of Samba destroying thousands of costumes and floats of three of the 12 top samba schools.Beija-Flors workshop was spared. The samba groups field up to 5,000 costumed dancers and musicians, including a 300-strong drum corps, who parade to songs which usually depict aspects of Brazilian and world history and culture.Carnival is a major business in Rios slums, which are home to the citys top league schools and dozens of others that parade in the second and third divisions.