Pérola Negra

Melodia wrote it when he was about 21. Waly Salomão heard it in Estácio and took it to Gal Costa, who sang it in her show Fa-Tal; the MPB dictionary says that in 1972 Waly suggested it to replace "Presente Cotidiano", which Federal Censorship had banned from the show, and Gal's performance made it his first national hit. Rolling Stone Brasil quotes Gal Costa: she had the honor of being the first singer to give voice to one of his compositions. The show opened in October 1971 per Rolling Stone Brasil and Billboard Brasil, and the live LP Gal a Todo Vapor came out in 1972. Ângela Maria also recorded it in 1972, and a later version exists with Criolo. Melodia's own recording is track six of the 1973 album, at 2:49, described by Rolling Stone Brasil as a jazz with the piano and bass prominent.

A writer in Tribuna PR reads the spirit of the song as evolving into "Ébano", an anti-racism statement; that is the writer's interpretation. We found no chart history, video or setlist count, and we could not confirm whether our upload is the 1973 album version.