Blood and bossa nova: the mystery of the death of a Brazilian musician at the hands of the Argentine dictatorship

O The beginning of “Mataram o Pianista” is completely invented. In New York’s Strand, a bookstore that needs no introduction, a certain music journalist, Jeff Harris (voice of Jeff Goldblum), passionate about bossa nova and MPB (Brazilian popular music), presents a book he wrote about his dedication to those musical genres and the mystery surrounding Francisco Tenório Júnior (1941-1976), pianist who regularly accompanied Vinicius de Moraes and Toquinho in the 70s. In Buenos Aires, during a tour of Brazilian artists to the neighboring country, Tenório Jr. was Kidnapped without anyone knowing exactly why, as he had no known political activity. He was probably mistaken for someone else, or just punished for his thick beard and hair. The kidnapping took place six days before the Military Coup of March 24, 1976 and he would be murdered three days later, at the hands of the Military Junta that had taken power in Argentina. He was killed at ESMA (Escola Superior da Mecânica da Armada), the largest clandestine detention, torture and extermination center of that dictatorship. His body was never found. At 35 years old and with a radiant horizon ahead of him, he left four children and a wife pregnant with a fifth child who would be born shortly after his death.