The ultimate fix, if you have a passion for Batucada, is the legendary Rio Carnival, We went for the first time in 2008. The streets are simply buzzing with energy around carnival time. Every night there was a block party for those not fortunate enough to have Sambadrome tickets, however, I to my surprise they did not play Batucada at the street parties. Instead, they were playing Favela Funk.

Fortunately we had Sambadrome tickets for the finals and headed down early to secure our seats, little did we know that the show went on until the sun came up so needn’t have rushed. We were sat down with our Caipirinha’s and Nachos long before the first Samba school started their precession. Then in the distance we heard the drums, looking down the 700m street we made out the first dancers and floats. It must have taken them about half an hour to reach us, and a further hour they kept coming, the outfits were amazing; the floats were mind blowing, and the drums got louder and louder. Finally, the drummers reached our section of the Sambadrome; the sound was intense the beats vibrated your soul and robbed you of air. Our ears were ringing for some time after the Surdo drums, and Timbal players had passed us, but we did not care as we had witnessed Batucada in the Sambadrome, for me the 9th wonder of the world.