Vinicius Junior is honored by Chico Buarque at a show in the city of Porto

Target of a series of racist attacks in Spain, striker Vini Jr., from Real Madrid, was honored by Chico Buarque this Friday night (26), in Portugal. In a show in the city of Porto, Chico dedicated “to our dear Vini Jr.” the song “Sinha”.

Composed in partnership with João Bosco in 2011, “Sinhá” earned the duo the award for Best Song at the Brazilian Music Awards the following year. The poignant lyrics speak of a slave, unfairly accused of having seen Sinhá bathing in the dam. He tries to convince the plantation owner that he shouldn’t be punished for it.

“Why carve my body / I didn’t look at you Sinhá / Why would you / My eyes will pierce / I cry in Yoruba / But I pray for Jesus / Why would you vassumcê / Take away the light”, says an excerpt from the song, sung by Chico a month after the composer received, in Lisbon, the Camões Prize. Recognition came four years late because of the refusal of then-president Jair Bolsonaro to sign the documentation for him to receive the diploma.

In his speech at the time, he said: “I have black and indigenous ancestors, whose names my white ancestors tried to suppress from family history. Like the majority of the Brazilian people, I carry the blood of the flogged and the flogger in my veins.”

The tributes did not stop there. At this Friday’s show, Chico returned to pay tribute to Gal Costa, as has been happening on the “Que Tal Um Samba?” tour. When singing “Mil Perdões” composed by him and recorded by her on the album Baby Gal (1983), the screen displayed an image of her friend and partner, who died last November, in yet another emotional moment of the night.