Chiquinha Gonzaga composes Ó Abre Alas, considered the first carnival march in history.
Chiquinha Gonzaga - Make Way
The rhythm is upbeat and the verses are simple. The binary meter carries the singing of 2 to 4 stanzas, in a chorus that sticks like chewing gum. The groove is carried by the rhythmic percussion of surdos, snare drums, and tambourines, which set the exact time for the brass to come in, in a mocking appropriation of that cadence so associated with marching bands and military parades. “Hey, hey, Gilmar / I'm behind bars / Come bail me out,” trumpeted, in early 2018, the well-known marchinha composer João Roberto Kelly.
The marchinhas are so striking in the Carioca imagination that one of them became the city's anthem. The snare drum beat accompanied by the trumpet serves as the opening: "Cidade maravilhosa / Cheia de encantos mil / Cidade maravilhosa / Coração do meu Brasil". Originally composed for a carnival song contest held in 1935, the song by Antônio André de Sá Filho became the "official march of the city of Rio de Janeiro" in 1960, through a law enacted by the governor of the then-state of Guanabara, Carlos Lacerda. From that point on, it became established as one of the greatest symbols of the visceral relationship that exists between the city and the great Carnival celebration.
But marchinhas are also a genre that meddles in the issues of its time. They almost always voice an opinion or a comment on the events of daily life, behavior, or national political affairs. Half pretext, half testimony, their lyrics make ample use of satire, wordplay, innuendo, and nonsense. Composed by Chiquinha Gonzaga for the Rosa de Ouro cordão in 1899, Ó, abre alas! is considered the first Carnival marchinha in Brazilian history. Since then, the image of something passing by, arriving, or moving on – like any street bloco – has become one of the most recurring allegories in this type of song.
That's what happened, for example, in 1950, when the unmistakable voice of Otávio Henrique de Oliveira, known as Blecaute, cemented one of Carnival's greatest classics, with the lyrics "Chegou o general da banda êê…/ Chegou o general da banda ê…a!" ("Here comes the general of the band"). All to poke fun at the hierarchy of the barracks and its highest military rank, as dictated by tradition and the playful spirit of the marchinhas, which still liven up Rio's street Carnival to this day. Almost 70 years after Blecaute first dressed up as a general, Bloco do Barbas, which parades through the Botafogo neighborhood, revisits the theme, mocking the new president of the Republic's military mannerisms. Its theme, in 2019, is: "Continência no Barbas só pro general da banda" ("Salutes in Barbas only for the general of the band").
