2024 Samba de Enredo - Part 2 - Verse 1

A film by Bosco de Oliveira
2024 Samba de Enredo - Part 2 - Verse 1 - 07.40 mins
This film finishes with the complete version of the part of the samba that Bosco is explaining
Bosco starts by singing the first part of Verse 1, before the “Refrao do Meio” (Middle Chorus)
Oh Abram Alas
Que chegou a pioneira
Do samba na Inglaterra
E a Estacao Primiera
Nascida de un Sonho
De Justica e Resistencia
Unidos
Quarenta anos de luta pela igualdade
Mostrando que o samba não tem idade
Desde seu começo
Com emoção e sem tropeço
Pulsando O coração com liberdade
In this first part of the samba Bosco talks about the school itself, going back to the Roots of the LSS
And going back and talking about the Roots of Samba
These are two different things in the same enredo
The first part of the samba he sings of the school itself:
A)
Oh Abram Alas
Que chegou a pioneira
Do samba na Inglaterra
E a Estacao Primiera
Bosco explains
Open the path or give way
The pioneer has arrived
The London School of Samba is the first samba school, the pioneer
Who can can take that away from us? Nobody!
Its literally the first station of samba in the UK (Estacao Primiera)
He made a little play with words here as people will notice with a double meaning because Estacao Primiera is the
name of Mangueira, who are also a pioneer of samba
Bosco is saying by putting this, Unidos de Londres is like the Mangueira of England
Of course our Godmother is Mocidade
For Bosco this was a question of rhyming and making the song flow with a bit of history
B)
Nascida de un Sonho
De Justica e Resistencia
Bosco explains
A dream of justice and resistance
He says he was reluctant to talk about himself
He says he spoke to Mags about this
And Mags said I am part of the history of the school so you should be mentioned
Again, he thought the rhyming worked well here
About the “dream of justice and resistance”
This was because so many people who had participated in the beginning of the samba school and its creation had fled
from political persecution
For example Pato Fuentes who had (with his brother Carlos, and another founder Gérman) fled the Pinochet
dictatorship in Chile
Alan Hayman left South Africa because of apartheid (likewise Steve Kitson another key early member who father was
a Commander of the ANCʼs armed wing)
Bosco mentions that the anti-apartheid struggle was of course prominent then and the LSS was inevitably caught up in
this as many of its members attended demos, events connected with resistance to this.
Bosco says right from its creation the LSS always had this idea in it - of Justice and Resistance
C)
Unidos
Quarenta anos de luta pela igualdade
Mostrando que o samba não tem idade
Bosco explains
The LSS has struggled for 40 years of equality
We are singing that samba has no age
This means many many things
Samba doesnʼt get old
Its still the same samba
From when it appeared in the first groups that played samba at carnival
Rhythmically its the same samba, the same concept
But also re “Não tem Idade” - anybody of any age can play samba
D)
Desde seu começo
Com emoção e sem tropeço
Pulsando O coração com liberdade
Bosco explains
Since the beginning of the school
With emotion and no hitches
It doesnʼt mean the LSS had no hitches - the school had several
But the school overcame all the early obstacles
By “pulsating the heart freely”
This is the premiera da samba - the first part of the samba

Film edited and produced by Mags, July 2024
Transcription by Mags, July 2024