(by Ralfe Braga)

After my last post citing a lost, or rather unsourceable, marchinha (Carnival song) from 1954, I thought I’d go back further to Rio’s first ever such song: Ó Abre Alas by musician Chiquinha Gonzaga in 1899.

Ó abre alas
Que eu quero passar
Eu sou da Lira
Não posso negar
Rosa de Ouro
É que vai ganhar

Ó Abre Alas is considered a marcha-rancho, but to define rancho, we should define a few additional terms, as well.

“We can look at Carnival as being large and small. In the large sense (Grande Carnaval), there are ‘societies’ and their parades – which usually gather hundreds of spectators.

In the small sense (Pequeno Carnaval), there are groups made up of the more humble layers of the population, forming what are known as Cordões, Ranchos and Blocos (the former two have given way to the latter over the past…