♪ OBITUARY “Schlotter, Salgueiro!” This compelling sentence was more than just a catchphrase, it sounded like a war cry in the powerful voice of Melquisedeque Marins Marques (May 6, 1957 January 3, 2024), the samba enredo interpreter from Rio , which was immortalized as Quinho do Salgueiro in the Pantheon of Rio Carnival .
Last night, on the 3rd, Quinho reached the end of the great avenue called Life. He completed the parade ahead of schedule at the age of 66 when he fell victim to complications from prostate cancer. The samba world is mourning the artist's death in the squares and on social media, especially Salgueiro.
Quinho can be placed in the category of great puppeteers, a term intended to denote the singers who, in the parade of the samba school, reinforce both the samba act of the groups and the joy and animation of the members and the audience in the stands .
From a biblically inspired name given to him by his father, a follower of the Jehovah's Witnesses religion, Melchizedek soon became Quinho. The surname on the certificate issued by the party was “from Salgueiro”, since Quinho was actually from Salgueiro.
Yes, Quinho came mainly from the school founded in 1953 in Morro do Salgueiro, in the northern part of the city of Rio de Janeiro (RJ), although he also went through the União da Ilha do Governador (where he entered the profession). In 1985, when he became the school's official instructor at the 1988 Carnival) and of Acadêmicos do Grande Rio, among other Rio associations, he also taught sambas from carnival schools in São Paulo such as Rosas de Ouro, Unidos do Peruche and Unidos de Vila Maria not to mention a meteoric journey through the celebrations of Porto Alegre (RS), where Quinho wore the Vila do IAPI school jersey in 2005.
It's just that in none of these schools has Quinho made as much of a splash and starred in anthological moments as he did in Salgueiro. Between comings and goings, there were four visits to the red and white school, from 1991 to 1993, from 1995 to 1999, from 2003 to 2014 and from 2019 until the moment Quinho became a constellation in the sky of Salgueiro.
Here on Earth, Quinho's star shone particularly brightly in 1993, the year in which Salgueiro became champion in samba enredo I caught an Ita in the north (Demá Chagas, Arizão, Bala, Guaracy and Celso Trindade).
Quinho, the king of the avenue, enhanced the explosive impact of this samba's chorus with his energetic vocals, also known as Make your heart explode. With Quinho's voice, Salgueiro thrilled the revelers, infected the city and won the title in 1993.
After 16 years, Quinho experienced another moment of fame in Salgueiro when he performed samba in 2009 drum (Moisés Santiago, Paulo Shell, Leandro Costa and Tatiana Leite) at the carnival, where Salgueiro also became champion.
Regardless of the number of titles, Quinho do Salgueiro embodied not only the spirit of Salgueirense as the school highlighted in a post praising the artist's achievements but also the spirit of Carnival itself, cheerful, lively, sometimes stubborn, but always contagious, ready to make the hearts of those celebrating explode with happiness. Quinho do Salgueiro gave me goosebumps!