The composer Ronaldo Bello, who won the samba competition at the Imperatriz Leopoldinense for Carnival 2024, died this Friday, three days after his song was announced as the winner, in the schoolyard in Ramos, in the north zone of Rio. The school’s official profile expressed “full solidarity with the poet’s family and friends.”
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The final, which began on Monday evening, had a surprise: instead of a winning partnership, Imperatriz’s samba plot will consist of the combination of sambas Nos. 7 and 10, the latter composed by Bello and five other partners.
“GRES Imperatriz Leopoldinense received this Friday (20) with great regret the news of the death of the composer Bello, one of the authors of our samba plot for the next parade,” says the association’s publication on its social networks.
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One of Bello’s partners in Imperatriz Samba commented on the school’s post. “It was an honor to enjoy ‘beautiful’ moments by your side,” Jeferson Lima said, adding, “He was unique in his behavior and character. Proceed in peace, comrade.”
Flag bearer Cintya Santos from Mangueira said she will miss her, whom she called Uncle Ronaldo. “Aunt Vaninha, I love you and I ask God to comfort the hearts of you and the boys,” he explained.
The composer also signs the samba for Acadêmicos do Cubango for 2024. The Niterói samba school shared a message of condolence on its networks, recalling that he also wrote the “unforgettable samba enredo for Bispo do Rosário”, a song that the association shocked parade in 2018, placing fifth in this carnival. At the time, Cubango paraded in the Série A, now called the Série Ouro, the second division of the Rio Carnival.
Bello’s death resembles another death in the world of carnival. In September 2021, Mangueira composer Leandro Almeida died of lung cancer, a day after his composition which he cosigned with Moacyr Luz, Pedro Terra and Bruno Souza was announced as champion for the Green and Pink awards in 2022.