January - March 2014
Rio de Janeiro - the dazzling jewel of Brazil, considered the most beautiful city in the world, a city with a unique beauty and atmosphere. Here is a fiery samba, a crazy carnival and heavenly beaches surrounded by luxurious apartments. On the other hand, there are also districts of poverty - favelas, full of violence, drugs and AIDS. These two worlds - how different - cross each other in Rio. It is especially visible on the local beaches, where the residents of the apartments and favelas enjoy life together in the sun and ocean. The famous son of Rio de Janeiro - poet and diplomat Vinicius de Moraes says: "We are surrounded by the most beautiful scenery in the world and the most beautiful women, we have the ocean to wash our worries and the sun to dry our tears." And the penetration of both worlds culminates in the samba rhythm - origin, material status, skin color are not important. Samba and the carnival are another panacea for the care of the inhabitants of Rio, losing themselves in the wave of music, dance, in fabulous costumes and decorations of the carnival parade. South American Nobel winner Mario Vargas Llosa sees this as "forgetting, being elated, lost in the song, until you feel that you are already her, that music is singing to you, not you, her. (...) In this way one comes out of the bondage of the body and enters the world of ghosts, singing, dancing. " These two worlds, lifting their eyes in oblivion, see Jesus Christ the Redeemer over Rio de Janeiro, whose figure rising on top of Corcovado stretches his arms. It includes both these worlds, bringing them hope of salvation ...
Krzysztof Muskalski
