Brazil, “Frevo”, the dance music genre central to carnival in Pernambuco

*Frevo clubs in Olinda attract thousands of revelers in all carnivals *Frevo attracts record-breaking crowds 130 years after its debut

Transcript

00:00March 4th was Fatih's day in Brazil, the final day of Carnival,

00:04and here's a correspondent by a mirror with a deeper look at the music

00:07behind Olinda's legendary Carnival parades.

00:13Frevo, the dance music genre central to Carnival in Pernambuco, emerged in the late 19th century

00:19when former slaves migrated to Recife's port area for work, bringing traditional

00:25Afro-Brazilian drums with them. In barroom jam sessions with local military band musicians,

00:30they fused their drum rhythms with the popular polka music of the era. Dancers incorporated

00:36moves from capoeira, the then-outlawed Afro-Brazilian martial art, resulting in

00:41a Carnival sensation that thrives to this day. Frevo is an improvisational framework

00:51that was developed here in Pernambuco, but it also has a long tradition of bringing parody

00:58into Carnival, authentic parody, especially of power relations and organized religion.

01:04One of the largest and most traditional Frevo clubs in Olinda is Pitombeira, which was founded

01:09by a group of friends in 1947 when they decided to joke around by dancing on the streets with

01:14branches from a pitombeira tree. The joke caught on and by the 1960s, the group was already

01:20attracting tens of thousands of revelers in Olinda every Carnival. Frevo is the soul of the

01:31people of Olinda. Frevo represents all of the happiness and cultural diversity here in Olinda.

01:38Frevo is the root of Carnival. It's where Carnival started from and it's where it gets its power to

01:44exist and shine and play around the way it does today. The only reason our Carnival is so grand

01:50is because of Frevo. 130 years after its debut in Pernambuco's Carnival, Frevo is attracting

01:57record-breaking crowds. Groups like Pitombeira play a vital role in preserving this tradition

02:03by engaging young people, ensuring Frevo remains a vibrant force in the life of Olinda's working class.

02:10Our traditions of the standard bearer, the Carnival dancers, the giant puppets are part of the culture of Olinda.

02:18This is why we always preserve them and always bring our parties to the streets.

02:29In a world of fleeting fads that appear and vanish overnight,

02:33Frevo looks like it's here to stay. Brian Muir, Telesur, Olinda.