This Sgt. Pepper's band isn't lonely in the slightest. Some 5,000 Carnival revellers participated February 27 in the Beatles-inspired Sargento Pimenta- (Sgt. Pepper) street carnival in Rio de Janeiro. The celebration was created back in 2010 by a group of friends who were looking to marry two passions, the Beatles and the Carnival.
The band is composed of two guitars guitars, bass, saxophone, trombone, two trumpets drums, and is joined by traditional samba instruments like repique, tamborim and agogô and pandeirola. While celebrating their own British invasion, the revellers made sure to remember their homeland, including its corruption woes. One couple dressed as a cop and robber.
"I have this outfit which that represents the politicians who are sticking their hands in our money," said Mario Marcio, who was dressed as a thief. "I came to make an arrest and show that in Brazil there's the possibility of improving," said his partner, Fernanda Brito, dressed as a police officer.
A sprawling, three-year-old graft probe, named Operation Car Wash after its origins at a gas station in the capital Brasilia, has uncovered at least 6.4 billion reais ($2.1 billion) in bribes for contracts with state-run enterprises. Right-leaning Michel Temer has taken over the presidency amid the turmoil. He enjoys a majority in Congress as he seeks to restore fiscal discipline and boost business confidence in a stagnant economy.
Indeed, things are not feeling so fabulous around Rio of late: crime is sharply up since the city hosted the Olympics last August and the state is suffering an intense fiscal crisis, remains deeply indebted and can barely maintain basic services like police, hospitals and schools. Despite all that, the annual party, as always, must go on - vivaciously. "We have to take advantage of this visibility to show the causes we support and truly need," said Sargenta Pimenta attendee, Julia Saber.
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