União Geral das Escolas de Samba do Brasil
The União Geral das Escolas de Samba do Brasil − General Union of the Samba Schools of Brazil − or (UGESB) was the first entity that represented the samba schools. It was founded in 1934, with the goal to help to organize parades of samba schools, to achieve more support to entities, in an epoch that the samba was still very marginalized, and the samba schools did not get the same support of public power that the Ranchos and the Carnivalesque societies arranged.
Overview
The entity was founded with the name of "União das Escolas de Samba" (Union of the Samba Schools). The founders signed the record of foundation of the then UES and the representatives of 28 schools, being that 25 disputed the concourse held in the following year. Along of 1935, UES suffered its first crisis, and its first president, Flávio Costa, was substituted by Pedro Canali. Shortly later, Servam Heitor de Carvalho occupies Pedro's place.
On January 1937, Servam de Carvalho was dismissed of UES, entering in his place Luís Nunes da Silva, the "Enfiado". Still on that year, Elói Antero Dias, the "Mano Elói", was elected to be the fifth president of the entity, in less than four years.
In 1939, UES changes its name to "União Geral das Escolas de Samba" (General Union of the Samba Schools), or (UGES),[1] and Antenor dos Santos is elected president, having Mano Elói as vice-president. In that years, some political persecutions start in the entity, with the title of member of the Audit Committee of Paulo da Portela being repealed. Because he was involved in many carnivalesque activities, artistic and cultural, Paulo was little bothered with it at first.
In 1946, UGES defines which are the typical instruments of a samba school: violin, cavaquinho, pandeiro, tambourin, surdo, cuíca, güiro, tarol (kind of drums), and calabash, institutionalizing the tendency of all the regulations of the previous years, they returned year after year prohibiting the use of wind instruments.
However in the 1940s, the samba was already being stimulated by the national regime of Getúlio Vargas, but this fact did not impede that during the year of 1946 UGES and the PCB started getting closer. In 1947, the newspaper Tribuna Popular, a printing press of the party, was the one that organized the popular concourse Cidadão do Samba.
Nevertheless, but because of this approximation, and because of the growth of the PCB, the public power started to stimulate the scission in UGES, with the goal to separate the samba schools from the communists. After this, the Federação Brasileira de Escolas de Samba (FBES) was founded on January 2 of 1947,[1] that received little support since the beginning: only GRES Portela, among the big schools, adhered to FBES. But this only to camouflage the federation's real adherences, it said that she counted on the support of other schools, many supposedly not existing and others already extinct. The connection between sambistas and communists was so strong that the UGES was nicknamed by its oppositions "União Geral das Escolas Soviéticas" (General Union of the Sovietic Schools).
1947
In 1947, still with the concourse unified,the three first placed (in a total of 48 schools), were still all affiliated to UGES: GRES Portela, Mangueira, and Depois Eu Digo. In that year, PCB was again placed in illegality, and the headquarters of UGES was closed for some days by the police.
In 1948, in a clearly adherent attitude of the mayor Mendes de Morais, the City Hall of Rio de Janeiro did not liberate appropriation to the schools affiliated to UGES, only to the ones affiliated to FBES, with the attempt to force all the schools to affiliate to FBES. In that year, the school Império Serrano became champion,[1] Tijuca second place, Portela third, and Mangueira fourth. Irênio Delgado was one of the judging committee, and all knew that he was a supporter of Império Serrano, and because of this, some big schools, such as Mangueira and Portela, became affiliated to UGES, after the election of this for the biennium of 1949-1950, in the presidency of FBES. Despite not ignoring that Império great samba school, these schools alleged that there could not have judgment while Irênio would be in the front of the organization of the Carnaval. Because of him and this, in 1949, two separated parades of samba schools occurred, one won by Império, organized by FBES, considering it official by the city hall, and the other realized by UGES, won by Mangueira.
In 1949, in an attempt to save UGES, Servam Carvalho (that returned to UGES after being expelled), and José Calazans, their directors, that had connections with the Communism, withdrew themselves from the entity, handing over the direction to the Major Joaquim Paredes, that to end with the jokes of oppositions, changes the name of the entity again, this time to UGESB, its last name.
However the investments of the Public Power against the entity did not cease, because in the Carnaval of 1950 was created the União Cívica de Escolas de Samba, with the clear goal to again disestablish UGESB. UCES began to be considered official by the City Hall, and its schools also received appropriations, that made Mangueira and Portela leave UGESB again. Mangueira was champion of UCES in 1950, while Império was again champion of FBES. UGESB began to promote parades too, that finished with a tie between Prazer da Serrinha and Unidos da Capela, however because they were small schools, today already extinct, little people know the result of this competition.
In 1951, Mangueira and Portela returned to UGESB, while UCES, an entity considered by many as artificial, did not succeed to organize its carnaval.
With the end of the mandate of Irênio Delgado, the schools began apply the plan to organize a unified concourse, being adjusted to the Carnaval of 1952 (that ends not being realized) a concourse of all the samba schools (UGESB and FBES). However, with the unification, the number of schools ended really large, and because of this the Grupo de acesso was created. After the Carnaval, UGESB and FBES unified, and AESCRJ was created.[1]
References
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