Seven victories made him one of the most decorated composers the school had ever produced
Em algum momento desta semana, o Rio de Janeiro perdeu uma das vozes que ajudaram a dar forma ao seu carnaval. Noca da Portela, compositor de samba-enredo com sete títulos pela escola azul e branca de Madureira, morreu aos 93 anos, encerrando uma trajetória que começou em 1960 e atravessou décadas de desfiles, melodias e memória coletiva. Sua obra não pertencia apenas à avenida — pertencia à maneira como a cidade aprendeu a se narrar.
- Aos 93 anos, Noca da Portela partiu deixando sete campeonatos de samba-enredo e mais de seis décadas de história viva dentro de uma das maiores escolas do Rio.
- A morte de um compositor dessa envergadura não é apenas uma perda pessoal — é a ruptura de um fio que ligava a Portela de hoje à Portela que se formou nos anos 1960.
- A escola divulgou nota de pesar reconhecendo que perdia não um integrante qualquer, mas uma figura central na construção de sua identidade artística.
- Títulos como 'Recordar é viver', 'Gosto que me enrosco' e 'ImaginaRIO' continuam sendo cantados por quem nunca o conheceu pessoalmente — e é nessa persistência que reside a verdadeira dimensão da perda.
- A comunidade do samba enfrenta agora o desafio de honrar esse legado sem que haja outro Noca para ocupar o espaço que ele deixou.
Noca da Portela morreu nesta semana aos 93 anos. Era um dos compositores de samba-enredo mais vitoriosos da história da escola azul e branca de Madureira, com sete títulos conquistados ao longo de décadas de carnaval carioca.
Ele chegou à Portela em 1960, integrando o que ficou conhecido como o Trio ABC, ao lado de Picolino e Colombo. A parceria marcou uma geração. Com o tempo, Noca acumulou vitórias que o tornaram um dos compositores mais condecorados da escola — e cada título carrega peso próprio no universo do samba. 'Recordar é viver', de 1985. 'Gosto que me enrosco', de 1995. 'Os olhos da noite', de 1998. E 'ImaginaRIO, 450 Janeiros de uma Cidade Surreal', de 2015, quando ele já tinha mais de oitenta anos e ainda contribuía para imaginar a cidade que ajudara a cantar.
A Portela divulgou nota expressando solidariedade à família, aos amigos e à comunidade do samba. O tom era formal, mas o peso era inequívoco: a escola reconhecia que perdia alguém que havia moldado sua identidade artística por mais de seis décadas.
O que tornava o trabalho de Noca duradouro ia além das vitórias. O samba-enredo exige que um compositor condense uma visão inteira — um tema, um ano de criação coletiva — em música capaz de mover centenas de pessoas pela avenida. É uma forma ao mesmo tempo íntima e monumental. Noca fez isso sete vezes no nível mais alto da competição. Suas melodias continuam sendo ensinadas e cantadas por pessoas que talvez nunca tenham sabido seu nome, mas que carregam sua obra como se fosse própria. É nesse anonimato fértil que vive o legado de quem realmente ajudou a construir uma tradição.
Noca da Portela died this week at ninety-three. He was one of the most successful samba-enredo composers in the history of Rio's Portela school, a distinction that placed him among the institution's most celebrated figures across seven decades of carnival tradition.
He arrived at Portela in 1960, joining what became known as the Trio ABC alongside two other composers named Picolino and Colombo. The partnership would define an era. Over the years that followed, Noca's name appeared on seven winning samba-enredo entries—the songs that schools perform during Rio's carnival parade competition, the centerpiece of the entire celebration. Seven victories made him one of the most decorated composers the school had ever produced.
The titles alone carry weight in Rio's samba world. "Recordar é viver"—to remember is to live—won in 1985. "Gosto que me enrosco" came a decade later in 1995. "Os olhos da noite," the eyes of the night, took the crown in 1998. And in 2015, when Noca was already in his eighties, he contributed to "ImaginaRIO, 450 Janeiros de uma Cidade Surreal," a composition that imagined four hundred and fifty years of Rio as a surreal city. Each of these works became part of the permanent fabric of Rio's carnival memory—songs that thousands of people learned, performed, and carried with them.
Portela released a statement through its social media accounts acknowledging the loss. The school expressed solidarity with his family, his friends, the other composers he worked alongside, and the broader samba community that had known him for more than sixty years. The language was formal but the weight was clear: this was not simply the death of an elderly man, but the departure of someone who had shaped the school's artistic identity.
What made Noca's work endure was something harder to quantify than wins. The samba-enredo form itself—a specific genre of composition tied to a particular place and moment—requires a composer to distill an entire theme, a year's worth of artistic vision, into music that will be performed by hundreds of people moving through the streets. It is both intimate and monumental. Noca did this seven times at the highest level of competition, which meant his melodies and his sensibility became woven into how Rio understood itself during carnival season.
He lived through the entire modern history of Portela, from the school's consolidation as a major force in the 1960s through the contemporary era. The compositions he left behind are not museum pieces—they are still performed, still taught, still sung by people who may never have met him but who know his work by heart. In that sense, Noca's presence in Rio's samba world will persist long after his death, embedded in the tradition he helped to build.
Notable Quotes
In this moment of pain, Portela expresses solidarity with family, friends, composition partners, admirers, and the entire samba community.— Portela school statement
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
What made Noca's seven victories so significant? There must have been other prolific composers.
Seven wins at Portela puts you in a very small category. The school has been competing since the 1930s. To win seven times means your work survived the judges, survived the test of performance, and survived in people's memory. That's rarer than it sounds.
When he joined in 1960 with Picolino and Colombo, was that trio already famous?
They became famous together. The Trio ABC was a partnership that defined an era for the school. Working in a trio meant sharing credit, sharing the creative burden, but also building something larger than yourself. That model shaped how Portela composed for decades.
Why does a samba-enredo from 1985 still matter in 2026?
Because it's performed every year. Carnival doesn't move on and forget. The songs become part of the city's muscle memory. When you hear "Recordar é viver," you're hearing Noca's voice speaking about memory itself. That's not nostalgia—that's living tradition.
The statement from Portela mentioned "admiradores." Who are those people?
Everyone from the school's dancers to people who simply grew up hearing those songs during carnival. Samba-enredo isn't elite art. It belongs to the street, to the community. Noca's admirers are the people who sang his melodies, who felt moved by them, who passed them to their children.
At ninety-three, had he stopped composing?
The fact that he contributed to a winning samba in 2015, when he was already in his eighties, suggests he never really stopped. That's the mark of someone for whom composition wasn't a job—it was a way of being.