Rhythm nation jubilation

Call it Brazilian carnival or call it Mardi Gras, this week was made for partying. In the days and nights leading up to Ash Wednesday, revelers around the world lived it up before vowing to give it all up for 40 days of Lent.

So by rights, Carnaval should be over by now. But in Southern California, we’re just getting started, with one of the two largest gatherings planned for Saturday in Long Beach, with events in Huntington Beach and Santa Barbara as well.

To be certain, the Los Angeles area has some tough competition when it comes to these festivities. New Orleans has been doing it since the middle of the 19th century, its Mardi Gras kings and Carnival krewes adding spice to a gumbo of parties and parades. In Brazil, Carnaval reaches across a vast country, peaking in the lavish samba school parades and floats of Rio de Janeiro and the irresistible rhythms of Bahia.

But somehow, Southern California and Carnaval are a natural fit. Maybe it’s because our blend of beaches, surfing and partying parallels the beaches, soccer and festive lifestyle so close to the hearts of Rio’s residents.

Or the fact that Carnaval reaches across color lines and socioeconomic backgrounds.

So what if we don’t have tens of thousands of people dancing in the streets (in pouring rain, no less) as they did this year in Rio?

“It’s the event that everyone knows about Brazil,” says Patricia Leao, producer of the upcoming event in Long Beach. “So it’s fun to promote because it appeals to so many people, from so many different backgrounds. We’ve had Korean Americans calling to reserve tables in groups. Israelis, Africans, Europeans -- a lot of Germans. People from the Middle East and, of course, Mexicans and Latins.”

The Brazilian population of the Southland is not particularly large, so Carnaval parties reach out to audiences whose awareness of Brazil may stretch only from bossa nova to caipirinha. Leao’s event last year sold out without a major headliner, and with veteran Brazilian singer-songwriter Jorge Ben Jor as the headliner Saturday, she expects a full house of about 3,000 this year as well.

“We try,” she says, “to give our audiences an experience that is as similar as possible to what happens in Brazil. We’re going to have a big stage, a big dance floor with tables all around. And this is very much like what happens, especially in Rio, where they have a lot of carnival parties like this -- a similar setup to ours -- because sometimes it can get a little dangerous to party on the streets.”

Last Saturday, Carnaval got off to a proper start with a packed Hollywood Palladium. For the 21st annual installment of this free-floating, dance-till-you-drop party, producer Ariel del Mundo put together a lineup of feathered and sequined dancers, samba groups and recent winners of the Miss Brazil contest, with television feeds from the parties in Rio.

Perhaps the primo event of the 2005 season, though, is “Brazilian Carnaval 2005: O Carnaval do Pais Tropical.” It kicks off Saturday in the vast Aquadome at the Queen Mary, which once housed Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose. (It’s an intriguing choice, assuming “The Aviator” provides an accurate picture of Hughes’ predilection for the kind of skin that is routinely flashed at carnival events.)

Having a big name such as Ben Jor adds to the draw. A true Carioca (native of Rio), he is best known in this country as the composer of the Sergio Mendes Brasil ’66 hit “Mais Que Nada.” But Ben Jor has been in the vanguard of virtually every phase of Brazilian music -- from Jovem Guarda, tropicalismo to Brazilian rock and contemporary dance rhythms -- since he was a teenage observer of the vital early years of bossa nova. He’ll arrive in Long Beach directly after having appeared at celebrations in Bahia.

As with many holidays, it’s easy to forget their meaning when celebrating.

The word “carnival” essentially means “goodbye to meat.” And the self-denial and abstinence associated with the Lenten period clearly implies “goodbye” to a lot of other fun activities.

It’s only a short leap to reach the notion that if you’re going to deprive yourself of something for 40 days, you might as well first experience what it is that you’re giving up.

So it’s no surprise that Catholic countries developed their own methods of partying, feasting and playing in the days before Ash Wednesday, whether it was France’s Mardi Gras, Germany’s Fastnacht or England’s Pancake Tuesday.

Contemporary Brazilian Carnaval traces back to the 15th and 16th centuries in Portugal, when the local pre-Lenten celebration was called Entrudo (or Introduction to Lent), and featured the aggressive tossing back and forth of nasty-smelling oranges and wax orbs. The practice moved to Brazil via the Portuguese colonization in the 17th century.

Gradually replaced by street riot-like parties that commonly took place during the three days before Ash Wednesday, the festival then segued, in the mid-1800s, into parties and masked balls. That was followed by the emergence of neighborhood percussion ensembles that came to be called samba schools.

By the early 1930s, samba school competitions -- to determine which collective could create the best song, the best costume and, ultimately, the best floats -- had become an intrinsic part of the holiday.

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of all these carnival celebrations over the years is the abandonment of social class lines. Nobility blended with common folk, slaves mixed with masters, often in the guise of costumes and the anonymity of masks, but always in a freely interactive fashion that was out of the question at any other time of the year.

“We try to create the same kind of atmosphere,” Leao says. “A lot of people say, ‘Is it just a show?” And I tell them it’s a Brazilian carnival celebration, and we want you to participate.”

Partying in the name of unity? You can blame it on Rio.

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Carnaval festivities

Brazilian Carnaval 2005

Where: Aquadome, Queen Mary, 1126 Queensway Drive, Long Beach

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Price: $35 to $60 in advance, $40 to $65 at the door

Contact: (818) 566-1111; www.braziliannites.com

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Huntington Beach Carnaval

Where: Old World Restaurant, 7561 Center Ave., Huntington Beach

When: 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Price: $15 in advance, $20 at the door

Contact: (310) 864-8699; www.sambaexplosion.com

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Santa Barbara Brazilian Carnaval 2005

Where: Club 634, 634 State St., Santa Barbara

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Price: $16 advance, $20 at the door

Contact: (805) 564-1069; www.soulbrasil.com