Block pays homage to Rita Lee: “1st carnival after she became a perfume”

Carnival 2024 is the first in which the traditional São Paulo band Ritaleena parades in the streets of São Paulo after Rita Lee “became a perfume, went to inhabit the cosmos, in the rings of Saturn”, as one of the founders of the carnival group, Alessa Camarinha, describes. The block, which takes to the streets this Saturday (3), on Avenida Sumaré, will have as its parade theme a snippet of the song Top Top, Para Pintar Seu Nome no Céu.

“The idea is to make people look at the sky and try to find this Rita Lee who now inhabits the cosmos. It is no longer materialized among us, it has become this perfume, it is in the breath of the wind, in subtlety. In the cosmos, in the rings of Saturn, how she would like to be”, highlights Alessa.

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This year's parade continues with reinterpretations, in carnival guise, of the queen of rock's anthological songs, such as Panis et Circenses; Well want me, bad want me; Black sheep; in addition to the main theme, Top Top. Alô, Alô, Marciano, for example, is played in the Pagode Baiano rhythm; Mania de Você, in Funk Carioca Frevo; Bust is carried out in Carimbó; Baila Comigo, in Coco Rural.

“Some songs in her repertoire were already a little carnivalesque, like Lanza Perfume. The others, we made arrangements and adaptations to fit the style and merge her work with the carnival sound environment”, highlights Alessa, who is also a musician and musical director.

Tribute in life

The founders of Ritaleena, friends Yumi Sakate and Alessa, sought to create a carnival cordon that would take to the streets the celebration of the feminine, irreverence, humor, breaking paradigms and with the city of São Paulo as its backdrop. They found these characteristics in the work of Rita Lee. Thus, in 2015, the block was born in honor of the singer.

“Ritaleena, thank God, was lucky enough to pay homage to Rita Lee for nine years while she was alive. We had a friend in common, [jornalista e escritor] Guilherme Samora, and in all our fashion shows, at some point, he would go up to the trio and call her. And then she watched the crowd, danced in her garden, and we talked. So, in some way, she participated in all our fashion shows”, says Alessa.

Singer Rita Lee died in May 2023, in the capital of São Paulo, his hometown. She had been diagnosed with lung cancer in 2021 and had been treating the disease ever since. The singer left behind her husband, Roberto de Carvalho, and three children – Beto, João and Antônio.

The Ritaleena parades will take place in the capital of São Paulo this Saturday (3), starting at 12 pm, on Avenida Sumaré; and on the 11th, also from 12 pm, on Rua Sepetiba, in Vila Romana.