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Tears, tentative steps for preteen samba queen ulia Lira, Rio’s 7-year-old Carnival drum corps queen, didn’t like one bit of the cameras that homed in on her as she led a lavish samba parade, and reacted as any child might-by having a good cry. But the sprite of a samba dancer did her best to brush away the tears, and after a few minutes of holding her mom’s hand and resting in the arms of a doting official from her Viradouro samba group, she returned in front of the crowd to dance early yesterday. The samba parades-which pit 12 top-tier groups against one another in a competition that is closely watched by millions throughout the countrybegan Sunday evening and didn’t stop until the sun rose yesterday after six groups paraded. Yesterday evening, the final six will go before the cheering crowds of 80,000 in a specially designed stadium. Dressed in a sequined halter top and a miniskirt made of purple feathers, young Julia tentatively stepped through the first 50 yards (meters) of the parade.
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and began to samba at the helm of the parade, television coverage steered clear of showing any more shots of her. Some in the audience thought she was not ready for the spotlight. “She is too young to be a drum corps queen,” said Marister Deniz, 60, who was watching from the stands. “A girl that size shouldn’t be thrust in such a role.” But Jorge Elias Souza, a member of the Viradouro drum corps, said he was proud of the girl regardless. “She is the embodiment of all the love in our school. Normally a famous person is the drum corps queen, but her father is our president and she is the center of our family,” he said. Putting Julia in the Carnival role drew the ire of child welfare advocates who were against a young girl taking on a role normally reserved for sultry models and actresses. Carlos Nicodemos, director of the Rio de Janeiro state Council for the Defense of Children and Adolescents, two weeks ago asked a judge to keep Julia from
Brazil carnival
Madonna, left, her daughter Lourdes Maria and Jesus Luz attend the carnival parade at the Sambadrome, in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday. —AP
Seven-year-old samba queen Julia Lira, member of the Viradouro samba school, performs ahead of the musicians. —AFP Her father-the president of Viradouro-then took her by the hand and presented her to the crowd. She smiled big for the photographers and adoring fans. But 10 minutes into the group’s presentation and surrounded by dozens of photographers and television cameramen, the youngster broke down in tears and was immediately scooped into the arms of her unofficial handler, the group’s spokeswoman Joice Hurtado, and taken away from the attention. After a five-minute cooldown, Julia returned to her place in front of the group’s massive drum line, but was quickly whisked through the parade grounds by her father and out of the media’s eye. “She just got scared after having all those cameras thrust in her face,” Hurtado said after the parade. “After we got her into her mother’s arms, she quickly calmed down and put on a great show.” While Julia bounced back
dancing, arguing that “what we can’t allow is putting a 7-yearold girl in a role that traditionally for Carnival has a very sexual focus.” A judge ruled last week that the girl could join the parade, and the overwhelming response in Brazil was a shrug and acceptance. Before Julia took to the parade ground, Rio’s reigning Carnival Queen Shayene Cesario Vieira, 24, said she thought “it’s cool” that the girl would participate. “I don’t remember hearing of a drum corps queen being so young,” she said. “But her dad is the president of the group and if he thinks it’s OK, it’s OK.” In the two weeks leading up to the Carnival parade, Marco Lira said repeatedly that he and his wife would be with Julia at all times-which they were-and they would carefully watch to make sure she doesn’t get too tired during the parade. Viradouro has a history of controversial themes.—AP
Giant Obamas, ʻThrillerʼ bankers at German carnival uge effigies of US President Barack Obama and bankers made up as zombies from Michael Jackson’s famous “Thriller” video starred in Germany’s biggest carnival procession here yesterday. More than a million people braved the snow to line the route of the sevenkilometer (four-mile) parade, where revelers traditionally poke fun at current events and enjoy tones of sweets hurled from the travelling floats.
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Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s alleged night with a call girl was rewarded with a huge figure showing a beaming premier surrounded by breasts. Obama’s controversial Nobel Prize was also the butt of the joke on one stand, which featured a huge Uncle Sam receiving the prize while the Statue of Liberty applied her torch to the effigy’s behind. The economic crisis was never far from the action, with several floats depicting Greece’s debt woes and
A carnival float featuring upside down US President Barack Obama as ‘The liberator’. —AFP
the crisis afflicting the German automotive industry, with Opel portrayed as a martyr. One float showed effigies of bankers dolled up as Michael Jackson’s famous zombies from the hit video “Thriller”, as the banking world rises slowly again from the dead. The German carnival season kicked off November 11 and culminates this week with the observance of Ash Wednesday.
(Left) Effigies of US President Barack Obama and Chinese Prime Minister Hu Jintao are seen sitting together in a bed on a float. (Left below) Dressed up revelers celebrate during the carnival “Rose Monday” parade. For the first time, much to the annoyance of local brewers, authorities have banned the sale of bottled beer during the carnival, following a string of injuries from flying glass when the revelry got out of hand. “In recent years, we have seen more and more injuries from shards of glass, either due to accidents or fights,” a spokesman for the town hall told AFP. —AFP
A carnival float featuring German Foreign Minister and vice-chancellor Guido Westerwelle and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
A carnival float with bad bankers