Chico Buarque and João Bosco Sing Historical Samba of the Serrano Empire

Chico Buarque and João Bosco chose a historic samba of the Serrano Empire for the presentation, on Wednesday night (19), at the Mangueira Summer Show, in Rio de Janeiro.

With “Heroes of Freedom”, 1969, the traditional association challenged the military dictatorship by extolling those who fought for freedom in the history of Brazil.

The anthological samba of Silas de Oliveira, Mano Décio da Viola and Manuel Ferreira arrived on avenue two months after the decree of AI-5, an institutional act that marked the hardest period of the military dictatorship.

In addition to the political content, the choice of samba sounded as a tribute to the Serrano Empire, which lost fantasies to Carnival 2025 in the Maximus Confecções fire, which was destroyed by fire on February 12, in Ramos, in the North Zone of Rio January.

The RJ League has decided that the Serrano Empire and other affected schools will not be judged at this year’s Carnival and will parade without relegation or ascension to the special group.

Rodrigo de Oliveira, one of the victims of the fire, died after four days of hospitalization at Getúlio Vargas State Hospital in Penha.

Chico and Bosco also sang “Sinhá”, composition of the duo, a musical tale that tells the story of violence suffered by a slave black man.

The Mangueira Summer Show also featured presentations by Alcione, Leci Brandão, Mariene de Castro, Pretinho da Serrinha and Xande de Pilares, as well as the old musical guard and the school drums.

The show was created in 1998, the year when the hose honored Chico and won the championship. The event has already brought together artists such as Maria Bethânia, Fafá de Belém, Elba Ramalho, Gal Costa and Maria Rita, in previous editions.