São Paulo – The streets and squares of some of the main cities in Lebanon receive, starting today (22), a little of the Brazilian Carnival. Samba and percussion parades and workshops are included in the 11-day schedule that the embassy of Brazil to Beirut, the Lebanese capital, and Lebanese company Café Najjar have prepared to promote Brazil in the Arab country. The idea, in future, is to establish a Lebanese-Brazilian Samba School.
The event, named "Café Najjar 2009 Carnival", should include some 40 dancers and rhythmists from Vila Isabel Samba School, in Rio de Janeiro. Five parades are scheduled to take place in the country, two in Beirut, at the Martyr Square, one in Zahle, on Brazil Avenue, one in Batroun and another in Tyre. Zouk Mikal should not get a parade, but a percussion workshop will be offered in the ancient market.
The theme of the parade is "Coffee from Brazil", as the product is among the three main items in the Brazilian export basket to Lebanon, and the country is also the origin of the products sold by Café Najjar. To give an idea of foreign sales, from January to August this year, exports of green coffee to the Arab country totalled US$ 22 million, against US$ 25.6 million in the same period last year.
Apart from the Brazilians travelling to Lebanon for the parades, The "Café Najjar 2009 Carnival" should also include Lebanese and Brazilians who live in the Arab country, among them dancers and musicians. The Lebanese-Brazilian samba school should include a samba master (mestre sala) and ensign (porta-bandeira), a group of baianas (ladies dressed in attire that is characteristic of the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia), capoeiristas (fighters of capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art that also includes elements of dance, music and play) and parade floats produced in Lebanon under supervision of Brazilian scenographers.
Lebanese Art students should also participate in the assembly of the parade floats and in preparation of the costumes. Even the samba tune was written for the parades, which will pay homage to Brazilian coffee and to the Arab country.
According to information disclosed by the Brazilian embassy to Beirut, Carnival in Lebanon should have a space reserved for children with Down syndrome, who will participate in the samba and percussion workshops given by Brazilian teachers.
This is the first edition of "Café Najjar 2009 Carnival", but the idea is to promote the event at least once a year, and to include it in the Lebanese tourism calendar, also attracting tourists from other parts of the Middle East.
The event, which ends on October 2nd, has the support of the Ministry of Culture of Lebanon and of the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Brazil, through its cultural department. It is worth recalling that the Lebanese population, of approximately 4 million people, is smaller than the number of Lebanese immigrants and their descendants in Brazil, estimated at around 6 million people.
Further information
Embassy of Brazil to Lebanon
Tel.: (+961) 592-1255
*Translated by Mark Ament
