Passado de Glória

a poesia suburbana e o turbilhão de melodias da Velha Guarda da Portela

Abstract

This article aims to reflect on the context surrounding the Portela Samba School's album "Portela Passado de Glória," analyzing its poetic production while observing its historical context, marked by profound social and political changes and wars. The aim is to provoke the following question: why is Portela's album a landmark in Brazilian discography? The textuality of the sambas reiterates the principle of collective intelligence and creativity, fundamental to Portela's trajectory, demonstrating that samba was not restricted to Carnival, but unfolded into ongoing practices—meetings, parties, and gatherings in the Oswaldo Cruz neighborhood, where music was an instrument of sociability and affirmation of Black culture, as pointed out by Candeia (2023), Nei Lopes (2008), and Muniz Sodré (1998). The recreation of culture and the appropriation of the past to reconstruct stories, oral traditions, and songs is a way to critique the ills of the 20th century and the legacy of colonialism, and to propose a breakdown of the social structure. Art, music and the spoken word are paths to encounter what Franz Fanon (2020) calls political consciousness and can be used as symbolic weapons when used by the people.