Vila Isabel Revives Vintage Samba Sound With Square Tamborim and Hand‑Painted Bateria for 2026 Heitor dos Prazeres Tribute

Overview

• The bateria will officially include ganzás, two‑bell agogôs and square wooden tamborins, incorporated into the regular formation rather than as a standalone feature.
• At least 35 musicians are slated to play the old tamborins during multiple passages of the parade, not only before the judges’ booths.
• A luthier in Minas Gerais named Samuel built the wooden tamborins without modern tuning hardware, and the mestre is considering heat‑tuning the skins with a small torch or barbecue embers.
• Three hundred ritmistas will wear cotton costumes hand‑painted since November at a Bangu atelier, with seven boina colors mapped to musical notes from sol to fá.
• The painting effort used 120 cans of paint—over 400 liters—and 300 pigment tubes, and artist Mulambö will paint a canvas live during the parade, which is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 17 with Vila Isabel second to enter the Sambadrome.