Unidos de Vila Isabel won Rio’s 1988 Carnival championship with the theme “Kizomba, Festa da Raça.”
The parade celebrated African heritage, Black identity and cultural resistance. “Kizomba” is a term associated with a celebration or gathering, and the parade presented a broad historical and cultural tribute rather than focusing on one individual event.
Vila Isabel is based in the Vila Isabel neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. The school was founded in 1946 and is strongly associated with composers such as Noel Rosa, whose connection to Vila Isabel is an important part of the neighborhood’s musical identity.
The title is sometimes misremembered as belonging to a school with a similarly Afro-Brazilian historical theme. The 1988 result belongs specifically to Vila Isabel, and the parade is often cited as one of the most influential championship presentations of the late twentieth century.