S'inspira en l'estil de les marxes militars, però amb un ritme més ràpid i té lletres picants. Fou la música predominant en les festes de Carnaval del segon quart del segle XX. La marchinha de Carnaval o marxa carnavalesca és un gènere de la música popular brasilera, nascut a Rio de Janeiro.(Which would be catastrophic for the city’s productivity, so it’s probably better this way. If the acoustics were always perfect, Carnaval would never end.

Before that point, it honestly doesn’t matter.

But the fact remains that music is the thread holding together the grand lurching illusion of the party.The moment when you’re too far away to hear the band, or the bloco plays the same samba too many times, or you don’t know the words, is when the scales fall from your eyes and you suddenly start being bothered by the fact that you’re incredibly sweaty and stepping in black mud and your wig is askew and you don’t know anyone around you and you haven’t slept in a very long time. Nor can I exactly explain what is so fun about jumping up and down and yelling the words to a great song with a bunch of drunken strangers while confetti showers down out of a too-blue sky. I can’t speak for everyone, of course, but for me this is at least 90% of the fun, and exactly the secret of Carnaval’s magic. My favorite blocos were Sassaricando and Gigantes da Lira, not to mention the Trapiche Gamboa ball, since they’re pretty much the high temple of marchinhas originally recorded by Orlando Silva, Carmen Miranda, and even dear old Francisco Alves. (What’s up, Bola Preta?) I practically research marchinhas de Carnaval, so I’m a bit of an exception amongst Carnaval-attending gringos. I can’t for the life of me see why people go to the blocos that are notorious for being so big that if you can hear the band, you’re probably under the wheels of the sound car. It sounds obvious, but so many of the blocos – swelled beyond the breaking point by the marketing of the carioca Carnaval – ignore that principle. The recipe for a good bloco, in my opinion, is almost insultingly simple: good music and people who want to enjoy it. After having Carnaval’d for nearly a week, now, I feel myself qualified to make sweeping pronouncements about it. Keep your pants on, everyone, I went to blocos besides Carmelitas and did have plenty of fun.

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Marchinhas de carnaval