Rio - On the eve of Carnival, Carlos Alberto Ferreira Braga, one of Brazil's most famous songwriters, who is affectionately known as Braguinha, has become a permanent part of the landscape in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, with the inauguration of his statute on the corner of Princess Isabel Avenue and Barata Ribero Street. Braguinha, who will be 97 in March, attended the inauguration which was accompanied with the music of many of his sambas and marches.

Braguinha wrote more than 400 songs, many of them Brazilian standards, such as "Copacabana, Little Princess of the Sea," and "Yes, we have bananas." Many of his songs were Carnival hits in the 1930s and 1940s. (AB)