Mateus Aleluia performs a solo voice and guitar show at the Nelson Rodrigues Theater, in the city of Rio de Janeiro (RJ), tonight, Saturday, July 11th Rodrigo Goffredo ? FIRST PERSON OF THE SINGULAR ? I had the experience of seeing a solo show by Mateus Aleluia tonight. I speak of “experience” because, to fully enjoy a performance by this 82-year-old singer from Bahia, it is necessary to turn off the time clock of everyday urgencies to enter the serene time of the artist, divinity incarnate, a kind of old black man who appears on the scene with a high load of ancestry. "The song says everything we feel without contours. It's a spiritual language. We speak from within", highlighted the most famous member of the group Os Tincoãs to the audience that filled the Nelson Rodrigues Theater on Saturday night, July 11th, to see the Rio debut of Seu Mateus's tour – as they call him – on the Caixa Cultural stages (there is a second performance in the city of Rio de Janeiro scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday, July 12th, but tickets are already sold out). Mateus Aleluia has a presence on stages in Rio every year. The last time the singer performed in the city was in 2017, nine years ago. But I had the privilege of recently attending an Aleluia show in Salvador (BA), at Concha Acústica at Teatro Castro Alves. In this Bahian performance in November 2025, the Afrosinfônica Orchestra – conducted by maestro Ubiratan Marques – shared the scene with Aleluia. Today, on the stage of the Nelson Rodrigues Theater, there were only the voice, the guitar and the immensity of the soul of an entity whose deep and serious voice pulled the thread of ancestral memory in the songs of the original script opened with “Homem! O animal que fala” (2009). While watching the show, I thought that Mateus Aleluia is also a Nagô Buddha as Gilberto Gil described Dorival Caymmi (1914 – 2008) in a 1992 song. In essence, while revolving affective memories of the rich experience in Africa and in his hometown of Cachoeira (BA), Mateus Aleluia sings the nobility of love. And this song that comes from within brings peace and serenity, harmonizing the spirit. Yes, you have to believe in something beyond the physical world to understand the dimension of this living orixá’s song. There is a lot of transcendental in the singing and in the genesis of songs like “Sonhos cor de criola” and “Filho de rei”, both from the album “Fogueira doce” (2020), whose title song ended the performance, finished without an encore. “I saw Obatalá”, proclaims Mateus Aleluia in the title verse of the 2017 composition. And who can doubt that he really saw it? The Tincoãs' biggest hit, “Cordeiro de Nanã” (Mateus Aleluia and Dadinho, 1977), came interspersed with a lament in the form of speech. The song of Mateus Aleluia also carries the pain of black people through the centuries. But ease these pains with the wisdom of those who have found peace of mind and those who derive food for their soul from music. At the end of the show, the artist thanked the audience and said he was “stocked up”. Strictly speaking, it was he, the artist, who supplied the public with music capable of feeding the soul and emanating good vibes, calming anyone capable of giving themselves over to the experience of seeing a solo show by Mateus Aleluia. I went. Mateus Aleluia emanates a high load of ancestry through his deep and serious singing Rodrigo Goffredo