Carnaval Time in Hollywood

Brazilian Carnaval arrives in the Southland in unusually authentic fashion next weekend. On Feb. 9 at the Hollywood Palladium, Brazilian Carnaval 2002 is bringing members of one of Rio’s major Carnaval ensembles--the Imperatriz Leopoldinense Samba School--to Los Angeles for a rare firsthand opportunity to sample some of the colorful costumes and intensely rhythmic music of the escolas de samba that parade through Rio the following day as part of the city’s famous Carnaval parade and competition.

“We’re very excited about having this particular samba school here,” says Patricia Leao, who produces Brazilian Carnaval 2002 through her Brazilian Nites production company. “They are one of the most famous and one of the most successful groups in Rio. The Leopoldinense group that performs at Carnaval has 3,000 members and they have been the winner of the Rio competition for the last three consecutive years. They like to say they’re the first winners of the 21st century--which, of course, they are.”

The Imperatriz Leopoldinense Samba School has a lengthy Carnaval history. Organized in 1959, the group succeeded the Carnaval Bloco Recreio de Ramos, an ensemble whose membership included such illustrious Brazilian musical figures as Pixinguinha and Heitor Villa Lobos. Leopoldinense (which is named after a district in Rio) has captured a total of eight Carnaval championships and pioneered the practice of seeking Carnaval themes from Brazilian art and literature.

The Leopoldinense that performs at Carnaval 2002 will consist of a relatively small contingent of 12 performers. But Leao describes them as a nucleus of the school’s finest drummers and dancers.

“We’re going to see a very tight group, definitely from the first level,” she says. “And remember, only the finest performers can even get into a school that is this famous. Rio has over 12 million people and the auditions are very difficult. Everything the schools do has to be precise, in so many ways--the costumes, the floats, the song. And to get 3,000 people to do that accurately is amazing. The batteria, for example, which consists of about 500 percussionists, have to turn into a kind of angle and stay on the side while everything passes by. They’re amazing.”

Of course an ensemble of 12 artists isn’t quite the same as the massive effect of the Leopoldinense singers, dancers and drummers in full regalia. Instead, Leao will offer a kind of mini-version of the larger presentation.

“They’ll be the climax of the night,” she says. “Around midnight we’ll have a costume contest, and just after that, Imperatriz Leopoldinense will come in. They’ll parade across the dance floor, hopefully with people following them, and culminate up on stage. Then they’ll perform until 2 a.m. I asked if they’d have any trouble playing for two straight hours of batucada drumming, and they just laughed. ‘We play from morning to night when we’re getting ready for Carnaval,’ they said, ‘so it’s no problem at all.’”

She also will include a practice common to Carnaval in Rio, in which samba schools pass out copies of the lyrics to their song while they’re parading so that the audience can sing, too.

“Since there won’t be just Brazilians at our show, many people might not speak the language, but they can still sing along, and we’ll encourage them to do so, to get into the fun of the whole experience.”

In addition to the Imperatriz Leopoldinense Samba School, Brazilian Carnaval 2002 will feature a guest-star appearance by singer-dancer Katia Moraes. She will perform with Badaue, a seven-piece ensemble that specializes in Bahian dance music as well as other Latin and Caribbean styles such as cumbia, soca and salsa. The 20 members of the TropiDANZA Dancers, led by director-choreographer Leila Flores, will appear throughout the evening dancing the samba as well as the lambada, frevo and capoeira.

“What we’re trying to do,” says Leao, a native of Bolivia married to a Brazilian, “is to create a carnival event that is very authentic, that is close to what one might experience in Brazil. And it’s interesting, because after last year’s program, I had a number of Brazilian people tell me that in many respects, we are paralleling what is happening in Rio.”

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Brazilian Carnaval 2002 takes place Feb. 9 at the Hollywood Palladium, 6215 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Advance general admission tickets $30, reserved table seating $40. Day-of-event general admission tickets $35, reserved table seating $45. Information and tickets: (818) 566-1111 or at Ticketmaster outlets. Further information at www.BrazilianNites.com.