The film is about the Classical Brazilian music of the Minas Gerais province during the 18th and 19th centuries. It narrates the story of a slave boy at the end of the 18th century who gains his freedom by means of his extraordinary musical talent and goes on to become a famous composer, Antonio Francisco da Cunha.
At the same time, the film tells us about the music today in São João del Rei, a little town in Minas Gerais, focusing on the Orquestra Ribeiro Bastos, the only surviving mulatto orchestra whose origins date back 250 years.
Elder Geraldo da Silva Santos, Luciano Mauricio, Ivan Capua, Cynara Bruno, Luiz Antonio Rodrigues, Luiz d'Angelo Pugliese, José Maria Neves, Valdir Raimundo das Chagas, Lucia Onofre, Marilane Aparecida dos Santos, Ivan Marclino de Sousa u.a.
MUSIC
Pe.João de Deus de Castro Lobo, José Joaquim Emérico Lobo de Mesquita, Ignácio Parreiras Neves, Marcos Coelho Neto, Pe. José Mauricio Nunes Garcia, Antonio dos Santos Cunha, Pe. José Maria Xavier, Giovanni Paisiello
CAMERA
Luigi Verga
ASSISTENT
Eva Piccoli
SOUND
Hubrecht Nijhuis
AUDIO MIX
Fausto Ancillai
SCENOGRAPHY
Luiz Antonio Rodrigues
COSTUMES
Mamélia Dornelles, Silvana Fusacchia
BEST BOY
Joaquim Waldyr dal Moro
LOCATION MANAGER
Suely Campos Franco
LIGHT
Adalberto Luiz Paduin, Antonio Carlos Gomes
EDITORS
Graziana Quintalti, Livia Ravá
WRITTEN BY
Georg Brintrup, Fábio de Araújo
DIRECTED BY
Georg Brintrup
TV PRODUCERS
Swantje Ehrentreich, Dietrich Mack
PRODUCTION
Brintrup-Filmproduktion, HR, SWF
FIRST BROADCAST
S3 on January 10th.1991
REPLAYS
S 3 am 30.4.1992, HR 3 am 30.8.1992, HR 3 am 12.3.1995
The film is about the Classical Brazilian music of the Minas Gerais province during the 18th and 19th centuries. It narrates the story of a slave boy at the end of the 18th century who gains his freedom by means of his extraordinary musical talent and goes on to become a famous composer, Antonio Francisco da Cunha. 
