Few Brazilians can claim to dominate their field as much, and at such a young age, as the 39-year-old Carnival showman Leandro Vieira.
Vieira has become one of the most decorated leaders of the annual parade competition in Rio de Janeiro. This year, as Carnival director of a samba school that hasn’t won in more than two decades, he could cement his name as one of the greatest since the festivities kicked off almost 100 years ago.
Vieira’s prestige as an artist — and his fame as a party animal — has stretched well beyond Rio, achieving the kind of celebrity a film director might gain. He was recently interviewed on Roda Viva, a public TV traditional program that often listens to the most respected Brazilians. This year he is carnavalesco for Imperatriz Leopoldinense — named after a former Empress of Brazil — which recently was relegated to second division and where he hopes to earn the school's first trophy since 2001.
His school's parade this year focused on the life of 1920s and 30s bandit Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, better known by Brazilians as Lampião. Vieira says he picks his themes with one motto in mind: “It is the history that official history doesn’t tell." A key choice for Imperatriz Leopoldinense this year was who to appoint as queen of the drum section — a role that the school traditionally has given to celebrities and fashion models. Last year it was pop singer Iza.
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