Chico Buarque and Eduardo Bolsonaro (Photo: AFP/Mauro Pimentel AFP/Evaristo S) “Around the world, ferris wheel / windmill wheel, spinning wheel / time turned in an instant / in the wombs of my heart.” Any Brazilian with a musical memory would recognize the composer Chico Buarque as the author of the verses of Roda Viva. However, a judge from Rio de Janeiro recently issued a ruling demanding proof of authorship of the 1967 song.
A post featuring photos of exponents of the country’s far right, such as journalists Augusto Nunes and Guilherme Fiuza, businessman Luciano Hang, federal MP Carla Zambelli, recently elected MP Nikolas Ferreira and Eduardo Bolsonaro, put “Roda Viva” on the musical track his indictment against the “censorship” of the minister responsible for the fake news investigation of the Federal Court of Justice, the STF, Alexandre de Moraes. Moraes’ name was not mentioned.
“Brazil is under censorship. In a dictatorship, freedom of expression and freedom of the press die first,” said the federal deputy and son of the President of the Republic on November 5.
Heard from the inside out, the song, a symbol of cultural resistance to military dictatorship, became a weapon of protest for apologists for the authoritarian regime that began in 1964. Third place at the Third Brazilian Folk Music Festival in 1967 and included on the 1968 album “Chico Buarque de Hollanda Volume 3”, “Roda Viva” has one of the composer’s most virtuoso lyrics and a vocal arrangement by Magro Waghabi of the group MPB4.
It also became the subject of the play written by Chico Buarque and directed by José Celso Martinez Corra. In July 1968, the CCC’s attack on the cast of Roda Viva at the Ruth Escobar Theater in So Paulo marked cultural terror on the fringes of Institutional Act Nº 5, AI5.
Outraged by the abuse, Chico demanded that the music be removed from the mail and BRL 48,000 in compensation for moral damages. “Seeing himself as the front man for a political campaign that he vehemently opposes and which, it must be said, forced him into exile, was very painful for him,” the lawyers’ first petition read on November 17.
A day later, the Deputy Judge of the Sixth Special Civil Court of the Lagoa District, Mnica Ribeiro Teixeira, pointed out the lack of “a document proving the applicant’s copyright to the song ‘Roda Viva'”.
Without judging the merits, she did not deny the authorship of the song, but demanded that it be authenticated. “After the final and unimpeachable decision, write it down and archive it.” The decision sparked criticism from political and artistic personalities on social media.
In the Nov. 23 motion to review the verdict, Chico’s attorneys pointed to “omissions and ambiguities” by the judge. “With copyright, it is not necessary to submit a registration to claim its protection in any area.” They argued, based on the Code of Civil Procedure, that if authorship is a “public and wellknown fact”, it does not require specific proof.
“It is one of the most striking songs in Brazilian popular culture and in the history of protest songs,” the defense affirmed, citing questions from the university entrance exam and Eduardo Bolsonaro’s own post, which attributed the phonogram to Chico Buarque.
Mnica Teixeira didn’t back down after the negative impact. On November 29, it manifested with drought. “The banned sentence does not constitute an ambiguity, contradiction, omission or doubt,” the judge stated. “Therefore, I am aware of the embargoes and do not issue them.”
Teixeira did not respond to criticism of the controversial decision. “The judge cannot comment on the ongoing proceedings by any means of communication. The ban is provided for in the organic law of the national judiciary,” the press office of the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice announced.
“There are people who don’t want to have their arms twisted. It would be great if she said Chico’s music. ‘I’m rethinking my decision.’ But she didn’t have that modesty, the great judges have it easy because people make mistakes,” says the composer’s lawyer, João Tancredo.
The defense will file a new lawsuit because the judge has not addressed the merits and wants the inquiry answered more quickly. “I claim no material rights. I claim no copyright for the execution. I am claiming moral damages for the use of ‘my voice, my work’ in something I did not authorize.”
The verdict cast doubt on the judge’s ideological position and cultural background. “Something out of logic. It’s illegal,” criticizes Z Celso Martinez, director of the montages of “Roda Viva” in 1968 and 2018. “She lies and makes a big fake news. Alexandre de de Moraes, about this surreal problem to solve”.
Over the phone, Z Celso asked the reporter to repeat the judge’s name. “Mnica Teixeira! What the hell, freaked out? Has she become the goddess of fake news? It doesn’t work! “I can be a witness in any situation. Only Minister Xando can do anything. It’s worse than the threat of a military coup. It’s an ode to fake news.”
“Roda Viva,” the track that accompanies the song, is about the story of a popular idol, Ben Silver, who has been swallowed up by the cogs of consumer society. “She had censorship issues and attacks on women in the theater, including Marlia Pra. I have these documents from Chico’s play. The censors went to rehearsals. Chico was in attendance. Nobody watched the play. Chico was very young and handsome. Everyone is watching Chico in the eye,” Z Celso recalled.
Singer Miltinho, member of MPB4, was also shocked by the court decision. “When I saw the news, I thought it was funny. But it’s not funny. It’s ridiculous,” says the artist, who took part in the defense of “Roda Viva” at the 1967 festival.
The interpreter mentions the crazy use of “Clice” by Chico Buarque and Gilberto Gil in an antidemocratic video by Bolsonaristas. He alerted Vinicius França, Chico’s manager, to the distortion of the music’s meaning, another notable vocal presence of the MPB4.
“I don’t think we’ve ever stopped playing ‘Roda Vida’ on any show. ‘Roda Vida’ is part of the life of MPB4. It usually closes the show, life, everyone. It’s an anthem,” adds Miltinho.
In the excerpt from “Roda Viva” brought to Eduardo Bolsonaro’s post and still airing, MPB4 sings “We’ll Go Against the Tide / Until We Can’t Resist”.