Bloco T-Shirt: What is It?

In the northern part of Brazil during carnaval, the parades are very different from those in Rio and are called "blocos" and "Trio-Electricos". "Blocos" mean "blocks" or groups of people who parade with the same costume or T-Shirt. Trio-Electricos literally mean "electric trios" because the first sound car parades appeared in the early 1960s with a trio of instruments and equipment atop constisting of an electric base, percussion, and a crude PA system.

Today, the sound cars carry entire bands, their guests and cost hundreds of thousand of dollars and T-Shirts to participate in the blocos can cost as much as $100US.

This year's bloco at the Brazilian Street Carnaval will be Fabio Assi and "Made in Bahia" who can animate any crowd. You need to have a T-Shirt to parade with the sound car and bateria in the second parade of the event starting around 5:15 pm.