Portela Samba – School – Winner of the All Time Brazilian Carnival Contest
Today we are going to take a look at the samba school that is the all-time champion of the Brazilian Carnival, the legendary Portela Samba School. We will review their foundation, their innovative spirit that helped them rack up 21 Rio Carnival contests since 1932, some of their talented musicians who graced the samba school pantheon, the Portela logo, the official flag, and technical information. The traditional school from the suburbs of Rio is also very famous for its exceptional composers, some of whom surely helped them develop and write the history of the samba musical genre in Brazil, such as Zé Keti, Monarco and Candeia. As you will see below, Portela, like the Estação Primeira de Mangueira, is a samba school for the masses, and has attracted many international celebrities, such as Ricky Martin, to its rehearsals and parades. The diversity in the Portela environment is also a great asset for the samba school. Recent Brazilian music composers such as Paulinho da Viola and Marisa Monte help Portela spread his cultural identity throughout Brazil and the world. Let’s take a closer look at how this wonderful chapter of Brazilian samba history was written.
Origins of Portela:
Portela’s first steps began during the 1920s, at a time when samba schools as we know them today simply did not exist. (For this reason, we will do a brief review of the murgas, important to understand the founding of Portela.) At this time, there were numerous samba carnival murgas in the Osvaldo Cruz neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, among them the “Ouro Sobre o Azul”, founded by Paulo Benjamin de Oliveira, “Baianinhas de Osvaldo Cruz”, founded by the samba lover Galdino and “Quem Fala de Nós come Mosca”, founded by Mrs. Ester María de Jesús. The latter was made up almost exclusively of children who paraded only during the day and was the only one legalized at the time, with a police license. The street band “Baianinhas de Osvaldo Cruz”, made up of adults, paraded with the license “Quem Fala de Nós Come Mosca”. Ms. Ester forbade them to use her license, as some of her members were troublemakers.
Paulo Benjamin de Oliveira, a distinguished samba lover from the neighborhood, then proposed the extinction of the street band “Baianinhas de Osvaldo Cruz” and the formation of a new unique samba street band that would truly represent the entire Osvaldo Cruz neighborhood. He then called Natal, son of Mr. Napoleão José do Nascimento, a close friend of his, to ask his father for permission to found the newly established samba street band. Mr. Napoleon agreed and gave them the space on one condition: they would let Easter pass before the block was founded.
Thus, on the Wednesday after Easter, April 11, 1923, under a mango tree, the “Bloco Carnavalesco Conjunto de Osvaldo Cruz” was born, the embryo of the Portela samba school. Wednesday was chosen due to a mythological tradition, probably suggested by Paulo Benjamin de Oliveira, since the number 4, the fourth day of the week, is consecrated by the god Hermes (Greek) or Mercury (Roman), protector of the shepherd and of the herds (Osvaldo Cruz was still a rural neighborhood at that time). To this day, Wednesdays are considered by the old guard of Portela a special day of celebration.
In 1926, the first board of directors was created by the president Paulo Benjamin de Oliveira, also known as Paulo da Portela, the secretary Antônio Caetano and the treasurer Antônio Rufino. (The first headquarters of the samba school was located in the house of Paulo Benjamin do Oliveira in Barra Funda).
In 1929, they changed their name to Street Band “Quem nos Faz é o Capricho” and in 1931 to Street Band “Vai Como Pode”. It was not until 1935 that they finally adopted their final name of Portela. The name was suggested by the deputy Dulcidio Cardoso, during the official establishment of all samba schools as recreational guilds on March 1, 1935 in Rio de Janeiro.
Portela has been a pioneer in many sectors of the carnival. It was the first school to use ornaments, Paulo Benjamin de Oliveira’s samba song, “Teste ao Samba”, from 1935, is considered the first samba musical theme. Portela also introduced the opening wing and was the first school to use ropes. Adalberto dos Santos, known as Betinho, created two samba instruments: the “caixa surda” and the “reco-reco”. These innovations helped the samba school win an incredible 11 titles between 1939 and 1953, including 7 in a row.
Starting in the 1980s, the school went through many internal problems that were directly reflected in its parades and championship standings. These problems ended with a split and a new samba school was born from the dissident members: the Tradição samba school. Since then, Portela could not be champion. (The last Title was won in 1980.) Their best result since then was a second place in 1995, with the parade theme “Gosto que me Enrosco.”
In 2005, Portela experienced the worst moment in its history and the samba school achieved 13th place due to a delay in the parade: President Nilo Figueiredo did not allow the legendary old guard to parade. This attitude was taken by the President because that year the school had many problems with the floats that caused the parade to be delayed. Fearing being demoted, the president decided to keep the old guard out to avoid further delays to the parade schedule, thus creating a sad and strange moment among the samba world.
During Portela’s history, the school achieved the championship 21 times, being to this day the school to have 7 consecutive championship titles in history. In addition to being one of the most traditional schools in Rio, Portela has one of the strongest drum sections, with some peculiarities such as the Surdo de Terceira (a type of bass drum), created by Sula in the 1940s. The great eagle as the main symbol also innovated in the 2005 parade, with the inclusion of a wing for revelers especially for the disabled.
The school always had many international celebrities as guests. Some of them included Latin singer Ricky Martin (1997 runway show), supermodel Nomi Campbell (2005), and music producer Quincy Jones (2006).
Composers at Portela: Since its foundation, Portela has been a “factory” of great composers of samba and Brazilian music. Some of these talented composers and performers include: Monarco, Zé Keti, Casquinha, Manacéa, Candeia, Aldir Blanc, Paulinho da Viola, João Nogueira, Noca da Portela, Colombo, Luiz Ayrão, Ary do Cavaco, Alcides Dias Lopes aka “Malandro Histórico “. “, Alvaiade, and Marisa Monte.