GRES Beija-Flor
GRES Beija-Flor de Nilópolis is one of the many samba schools in Rio de Janeiro .
history
Beija-Flor stands for hummingbirds in Portuguese . The samba school of the same name was founded on December 25, 1948. A group of friends came up with the idea of founding their own samba school for the suburb of Nilópolis . Founding members were Milton de Oliveira (o Negão da Cuíca) and his mother Eulália, Helles Ferreira, Mário Silva, José Fernandes da Silva, Walter Silva, Édson Vieira and Hamilton Floriano.
In 1953, Beija-Flor was officially registered in the Federation of Samba Schools of Rio de Janeiro. Since then they have been dancing in group 2 of the Liga Independente das Escolas de Samba do Rio de Janeiro ( Independent League of Samba Schools of Rio de Janeiro ). The official name was set with Grêmio Recreativo Escola de Samba Beija-Flor de Nilópolis ( Relaxing Guild of the Samba School Beija-Flor of Nilópolis ).
It was not until 1954 that Beija-Flor was able to take part in the Carnival in Rio . The school won its class right at the first appearance, which meant advancing into the elite of the Grupo Especial . However, Beija-Flor could not hold up in this high group for long and later relegated, even to the third group for a short time. It was not until 1974 that the samba school, known for its creativity, was able to successfully dance its way back into the elite and establish itself permanently.
In 1976, history was made for the first time, because with the successful entry of Joãozinho Trinta, Laíla and others who were dissatisfied with GRES Acadêmicos do Salgueiro at the time , the first championship title could be won. In 1977 the second title was added, and in 1978 one could get the third championship title for Beija-Flor. With this triple success at the Rio Carnival, Beija-Flor was able to make a name for itself among the large samba schools and was known for being a particularly luxurious samba school. More titles followed in 1983 and 1998, then again in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2011, when the samba school dominated the Avenida , the Sambódromo .
In 2015, Beija-Flor won the Carnival crown of Rio de Janeiro for the 13th time with a homage to a “strong, happy and colorful Africa”. The 14th win followed in 2018.
Web links
- Official Website (Portuguese)