In celebration of National Samba Day, December 2nd, the Samba Train, a traditional meeting in Rio de Janeiro, will once again leave Central do Brasil, in the city center, heading to Oswaldo Cruz, a neighborhood in the north zone that, next to Madureira, it is the birthplace of Portela and Império Serrano, two associations with a strong history linked to samba.
In this 29th edition of the event, the entertainment will begin at 3pm with a show on the Monarco stage set up in Central do Brasil, with the presence of singer and composer Marquinhos de Oswaldo Cruz, the creator of the meeting, from the old guard of the Vila Isabel samba schools, Salgueiro, Mangueira and Império Serrano, and the Samba Matriarchs, among others.
Marquinhos de Oswaldo Cruz commands Trem do Samba – Trem do Samba/Henrique Esteves
Inspiration
Trem do Samba is inspired by the train journey that Paulo da Portela, founder of the samba school, and other samba artists, took at the beginning of the 20th century, to escape police repression of the musical genre. Precisely at the same time they were heading to Oswaldo Cruz, at 6:04 pm, the celebration will continue with samba circles inside trains that will take the public to the end of the journey.
“It is a reaffirmation of a persistent struggle. Every place where people are colonized, their language is destroyed. Perhaps up to thousands of different ethnicities of enslaved human beings came to Brazil and, according to some historians, the essence of this, because there were many languages, is very much in the Candomblé of Bahia and the samba of Rio de Janeiro. Imagine an entire country singing samba. There is something like this about giving a very strong new meaning, because musically it is the language of the country”, explains Marquinhos de Oswaldo Cruz in an interview with Agência Brasil.
Trem do Samba has more than 20 samba circles – Trem do Samba/Henrique Esteves
Party
Samba will also spread through the streets of Oswaldo Cruz with many attractions in more than 20 samba circles. “The guy goes by train, after a while he sits down in another place, picks up the cavaquinho, and starts doing a samba circle too. It’s really cool. The tendency is for it to increase more and always have these wheels. Spend the night like that. It’s as if you went to Maracanã and had the right to enter the field and kick the ball into the goal. That’s more or less that,” said Marquinhos.
There will also be three venues for shows, one on Rua Átila da Silveira, where the Tica Doca stage was set up; in Portelinha with the Manaceia stage, and on Rua João Vicente, with the Candeia stage. The three will welcome artists such as Pretinho da Serrinha, Moacyr Luz e o Samba do Trabalhador, Dorina e Mulheres na Roda de Samba and Toninho Geraes.
“I see Trem do Samba today as the biggest roots samba festival in the country. It’s the first time I’m participating. I am very honored and very happy to be part of this team. I want to thank Marquinhos de Oswaldo Cruz and the entire production team for the invitation and also thank all the musicians who went before me, back in the beginning, playing on the train so that today we can arrive at the festival with several stages. A lot of people played inside the train for this. I’m very happy and I would also like to say, finally, that this whole samba movement is an act of resistance in the popular culture of our country”, said Pretinho da Serrinha to Brazil Agency.
Public
According to Marquinhos de Oswaldo Cruz, in 2023, around 116 thousand people participated in the party, which this year could surpass that mark.
As the public increases every year, the concessionaire SuperVia, responsible for the train service in Rio de Janeiro, set up a scheme with 14 trains for the return trip to Oswaldo Cruz. The first, special for invitations only, will feature Marquinhos de Oswaldo Cruz and members of the old guard of samba schools. The others will depart at 6:24 pm, 6:44 pm, 7:04 pm and 7:24 pm with groups spread across the trains livening up the journey.
Every year the audience grows with the Trem do Samba project – Trem do Samba Disclosure/Henrique Esteves
The trains will leave from platform 2 at Central do Brasil.
For the creator of Trem do Samba, together with the public, the project has grown over the years and currently employs 1,500 people. The ticket can be purchased with 1kg of non-perishable food, and must be delivered to the Central do Brasil ticket office between 1pm and 7pm. For the return, the ticket must be purchased in advance or use the RioCard Mais.
“You can also see the growth because Trem do Samba has always been an event for the fight for traditional samba, without judging anyone’s value. It is an event where traditional samba is sung. Today, what is proliferating is kids who have been on the Samba Train, doing samba circles around the city”, commented Marquinhos de Oswaldo Cruz, adding that samba has gone to school.
Extra trains
For the return of the samba circles, the concessionaire planned extra trips with trains leaving towards Central do Brasil, at 11:40 pm, 12:20 am and 1:10 am. Towards Japeri (0:00 am, 0:40 am and 1:20 am), and Santa Cruz, connected to the branch Deodoro (11:50 pm, 12:30 am and 1 am).
Only party trains will stop at Oswaldo Cruz. On other trains, passengers on the regular train departing from Central do Brasil who want to go to Oswaldo Cruz will have to go to Bento Ribeiro, for logistical reasons, and board the next train in the opposite direction to return to Oswaldo Cruz.
SuperVia suggested that Trem do Samba users plan trips using Plan your Trip on its app or, if in doubt, contact the Customer Service Center on 0800 726 9494.
