Among the 462 blocks authorized to parade in Rio de Janeiro’s carnival by the Rio Municipal Tourism Company (Riotur), 35 will bring together revelers for the first time. This year, the city’s street carnival had a record 803 blocks registered and should attract around 6 million people, including residents and tourists, who will occupy streets, squares and avenues in all regions of the city.
One of these new blocks authorized by Riotur is Forro da Taylor. The founder, Igor Conde, says that the group emerged as a group of forrozeiro musician friends in October 2017.
Igor lived with two accordion players on Rua Taylor, in Santa Teresa, and they decided to have a relaxed forró session with their friends on Sundays. The circle filled with people, it ended up becoming an event and 1,500 people began to gather at Praça Glauce Rocha, near Rua Taylor, and they started to descend Santa Teresa in a procession.
From there, says Igor, Cortaylor emerged, Taylor’s Forró parade, which began to parade at Carnival in 2022 unofficially in Santa Teresa. Last year, the location was Aterro do Flamengo.
“This year, for us to be able to make the block official, we have to do it standing still, on stage. It will be at Largo de São Francisco, in the center, on Carnival Saturday (14), starting at 8 am”, against Igor, who sings and plays zabumba with six other musicians.
The musician highlights that the group incorporated carnival songs and songs from the pop repertoire.
“We play the biggest hits from Brazil and internationally in a forró pé de serra rhythm. Our way of playing successful songs in a forró format is irreverent. We call it a new musical genre, forró xucado, a bit messy, carioca”, says Igor.
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Unofficial blocks
Founder of the Treme Treme block, percussionist and producer Gabi Assis highlights that the theme is Bahian pagode and Rio funk.
“The idea is to make everyone dance. The name is provocative, Treme Treme comes from twerking, from summer, from carnival. The repertoire is designed around dance music. Our block is also known for its choreography. We have a corps de ballet made up of professional dancers, who provide the front line with a performance”, says Gabi.
The block, which is part of the unofficial carnival, began to be organized in 2024, as the idea was to leave in 2025, but it was not possible. Rehearsals began in June 2025, generally at Praça da Harmonia, in Saúde. There are 25 members including musicians and dancers.
“We will parade in a procession on February 7th from 4pm. The location will be either in the port region or in Prainha da Glória, at Posto 0, in Aterro do Flamengo”, adds Gabi.
Founder of the Alto Astral block, Thadeu Marinho says that the group is a cultural manifestation that is not part of Riotur’s official itinerary.
“They are happy songs, like I woke up happyby Charlie Brown, Happy Endingby Jorge Vercilo. We also have stilts, circus performances. We are 60 members”, he says.
Alto Astral began rehearsals in October 2025 at Aterro do Flamengo on weekends between 2pm and 3pm.
“We’re going to play at a standstill this year. The performance location will be announced the day before so it doesn’t get too crowded. It will be on Carnival Saturday, the 14th”, says Thadeu.
This is not the first block founded by Thadeu. In past carnivals, he also created a block called Nova Bad, which only played sad songs. Even with the “low spirits”, the block was closed because it was getting too crowded, he said.
