RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - The roughly 70,000 Carnival revelers who
                   had packed into the Brazilian ''sambadrome'' Monday were on their feet.
                   Red and white fireworks showered the sky and a chart-topping pop song
                   boomed from the sound system.

                   The samba group Salgueiro - made up of a core of musicians and nearly
                   4,000 dancers - had entered and the fans were jumping.

                   ''You're the best, Salgueiro,'' 20-year-old Ana-Maria Goncalves yelled as
                   she danced to the tune. ''We're going to win this. Bring on the champions.''

                   Brazil comes to a standstill for the annual four-day Mardi Gras-type bash
                   that precedes the Christian observance of Lent. One of Brazil's
                   best-known Carnival traditions is Rio's parade competition when city
                   neighborhoods offer up huge ensembles of musicians and dancers that vie
                   against each other for cash prizes and major bragging rights.

                   A panel of judges picks the champions, taking into account each group's
                   floats and costumes, samba tune, organization and drumming skills. This
                   year's decision will be announced the day after celebrations end Tuesday
                   night.

                   Although Salgueiro got an enthusiastic welcome, after an hour of samba
                   dance moves, some members looked ragged, provoking shouts of
                   criticism and looks of disgust. Still, opinion pollsters Ibope ranked them
                   second best out of seven neighborhood groups early Monday.

                   By Tuesday morning, seven more groups will have paraded in the
                   ''sambadrome,'' a half-mile-long grandstand near downtown Rio built just
                   for the parades.

                   This year's favorites are current joint-champions Mangueira and
                   Beija-Flor, both due to perform late Monday. Mangueira, based in a slum
                   district, is to Carnival in Brazil what Pele is to soccer.

                   Also popular was the group Uniao de Ilha do Governador, whose floats
                   had been destroyed first by fire, then by flooding. Volunteers had worked
                   around the clock to make sure the group's parade still looked brilliant on
                   the night.

                   The city's tourism board, Riotur, estimated 150,000 tourists visited this
                   year's Carnival, double that of 1998.

                   Brazil is more attractive to visitors this year because its currency, the real,
                   has plunged in value 35% against the dollar since mid-January when the
                   government floated the currency to stem a massive outflow of foreign
                   reserves.

                   ''Whoever walks down the street can feel the difference,'' Gerard
                   Bourqueseau, president of Riotur, told Monday's Jornal do Brasil
                   newspaper.

                   Also Monday, a Jewish leader criticized a samba group that used
                   swastikas and other symbols from Nazi Germany in a Carnival parade in
                   Sao Paulo on Sunday. ''It was disturbing and brought back very bad
                   memories for Brazil's Jewish community,'' said Henry Sobel, senior Rabbi
                   of the Israelite Congregation of Sao Paulo.

                   The Vai-Vai samba group used the symbols to pay homage to
                   Nostradamus, a 16th-century French prophet said to have predicted
                   historical events including Nazi Germany. Samba group members met with
                   Sobel before the parade to say no offense was intended, but refused to
                   withdraw the symbols.

                   Meanwhile at Trinidad's Carnival, a performer known as ''Singing Sandra''
                   on Monday became the second woman to be named Calypso King in the
                   50-year history of musical competitions there.

                   Sandra Des Vignes of Port of Spain beat out rival Sugar Aloes during the
                   all-night competition of songs peppered with social criticism, a fixture of
                   the nation's annual festival.
 

                            © Copyright 1999 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.