São Paulo – Samba school Copa Lord, from the state of Santa Catarina, is going to have Morocco in its theme song in next year’s Carnaval. Early next month, a team from the school is going to travel to the Arab country in order to research and write the samba tune that its members are going to dance to on the Nego Quirido samba runway, in the state capital Florianópolis. According to the president of Copa Lord, Antônio José Leopoldo, the suggestion for the theme song was by the governor of the state of Santa Catarina, Luiz Henrique da Silveira.
"He visited the runway a few days before this year’s Carnival. The presidents of the samba schools were there and he made the suggestion," says Leopoldo. The initial idea was for all of the schools to mention the Arab African country. Later on, it was decided that it would be best if only one school explored the theme. A raffle was held and Copa Lord won.
The parade organiser and researchers of Copa Lord are already studying the theme. The organiser of the school’s parade is Marcio Schutz and the researchers are Gilson Célio Veloso and Edu Aguiar. They should travel to the Arab country, alongside Leonardo, in order to get to know more about the subject of their theme song. The researchers do the research followed by a synopsis, with which the songwriter works. At Copa Lord, the songwriter and singer is Wilson Cândido Filho.
Copa Lord is one of the most traditional in the Carnival of Florianópolis. So much so that one of its founders, Juventino João Machado, a.k.a. Nego Quirido, who has already passed away, lent his name to the samba runway in the capital of Santa Catarina. It was established in 1955 under the name Sociedade Recreativa Cultural e Samba Embaixada Copa Lord, which is still its official name. The origin of the school is Nossa Senhora do Mont Serrat Community, at Morro da Cruz.
In recent years, the school has already been adopting international theme songs. This year, for instance, the theme was Saint Catherine of Alexandria, the saint born in Alexandria, Egypt. Leopoldo explains that the Santa Catarina runway received its name because of Egyptians who passed through the region and gave the name to the place in which the state is now located. The theme song earned Copa Lord the third place in the 2009 parade. Last year, however, the school was the champion of the Florianópolis Carnival, with a song exploring the 100th anniversary of Japanese immigration to Brazil.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
