Rio Carnival is often understood through spectacle, defined by scale, imagery, and performance. But what many people don’t realize is that each samba school tells a story, often centered on themes of Afro-Brazilian political resistance, for example. The workshop Sounds of Rio Carnaval dives into the Carioca carnival as a living cultural system shaped by sound, storytelling, and Afro-Brazilian history. Through a curated combination of music, visual material, and contextual narration, the session moves beyond the Sambódramo into the streets and communities where Carnival takes form, tracing how different traditions express identity, memory and resistance. Sounds of Rio Carnival is conceived as a tribute to Afro-Brazilian culture, centering listening as a way of engaging with Carnival beyond its surface.