Podbit · The Rest Is History
The first lyrics written for Francisco Manuel da Silva's new tune in the 1830s are a masterclass in historical embarrassment. They contained lines about 'barbarians of Jewish and Moorish blood, begone' — so offensive that even contemporaries dropped them quickly, though they liked the tune.
Where this was said
At 40:10 · chapter starts 38:10
Silva's tune needed words, and the task fell to a liberal judge called Ovidio Saraiva de Carvalho e Silva. The results were catastrophic. The lyrics, when they appeared publicly two years after the premiere, combined ferocious lusophobia — 'the monsters that enslaved it no longer thrive among us' — with lines that historians today find almost unquotable: 'Barbarians of Jewish and Moorish blood, begone. Our homeland is no longer your treasure house.' [1] — Dominic Sandbrook "The cannons of tyranny no longer roar in Brazil. The monsters that enslaved it no longer thrive among us. Barbarians of Jewish and Moorish …" 40:28 Even in the 1830s, the consensus was that these were terrible, and they were quietly dropped. Silva's melody, however, survived to become the de facto national anthem, played at public ceremonies and military events — but without any words. As Dominic observes, Brazil had a tune but not a story, and its inability to agree on lyrics reflected the fundamental instability of Brazilian society.
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