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Episode details

World Service,02 Jun 2026,26 mins

S茫o Paulo's carnival competition

In the Studio

Available for over a year

Every year during Brazil鈥檚 carnival celebrations, samba schools are tasked with creating elaborate parades based around a unique theme, from which they build huge floats, compose a song, and choreograph an entire visual spectacle. For 3 weeks, Tom Raine followed one of S茫o Paulo鈥檚 oldest samba schools, 脕guia de Ouro, in the final stages of creating their carnival parade ahead of their most important event of the year - parading in S茫o Paulo鈥檚 iconic sambadrome in the attendance of thousands of people, and millions more watching on TV across Brazil. This year they鈥檝e chosen a theme titled 鈥淎msterdam: City of Liberty鈥, celebrating the cities鈥 values of freedom, tolerance and modernity. It鈥檚 not just a celebration but a fierce competition, with rigorous judging and a football-style league system of promotion and relegation. In The Studio goes behind the scenes to S茫o Paulo鈥檚 鈥渃arnival factory鈥 to find out what it takes to put on a parade, from one whole year of work to just one hour on the tarmac. Presenter / producer: Tom Raine

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