Naomi Campbell adds to the colour and chaos at Rio carnival

Honouring the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the Portuguese royal family in Brazil, the 4,200-strong Sao Clemente samba group's lavish floats represented the riches and cultural heritage brought by the Portuguese.

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Dancer Viviane Castro, 25, said: "Carnival is a lot of joy, you don't think about other stuff."

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But the whole of Brazil is celebrating Carnival and Miss Campbell decided to party in nearby city Salvador da Bahia, where the main event is said to be less commercial than in Rio's Sambadrome.

The supermodel was joined by music producer Quincy Jones.

Those in search of a more intimate carnival have been heading to Recife and the neighbouring colonial hilltop town of Olinda.

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Here, the vibrantly colored costumes and huge puppets may be dwarfed by the Rio's gargantuan floats and armies of uniformed dancers, but the lack of pomp is compensated for by the proximity.

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Recife also offers up a potpourri of rhythms with names that seem to flow from poetry, like "maracatu," "cabolco," "coco" and "ciranda."

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Jelly-limbed dancers with tiny multicolored umbrellas, frolicking to frenetic frevo rhythms, make carnival in this Brazilian coastal city unique and for residents second to none.

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Recife's frevo music - which is accompanied by a frantic tippy-toed dance in which participants leap into midair splits and fold themselves like contortionists as they land

On Saturday, an estimated 1.5 million revelers turned out in the harsh midday sun for the "Galo de Madrugada," or Midnight Rooster, in Recife's city center where a procession of frevo bands wow the crowds with the fast-paced marching band music that recalls Dixieland jazz.

Frevo is celebrating its centenary this year and Mangueira's theme samba this year is fittingly entitled, "100 Years of Frevo, It's Enough to Lose Your Shoes."