"Índios"

The song *Índios* by Legião Urbana, released in 1986, has a title that invites thought. The quotation marks surrounding it, inspired by David Bowie's *Heroes*, do not refer to the original inhabitants of Brazil in a literal historical sense. Rather, Renato Russo used them to speak of an innocence, a naivety that he perceived in the Brazilian people from their beginnings, a condition that, in his opinion, made them susceptible to being deceived by those who governed them. The lyrics are a plea for a different world, where people are less selfish and strive for something better.

The creation of *Índios* was not simple. There were more than ten attempts for the lyrics to fit the music. When Renato Russo was about to give up, producer Mayrton Bahia and sound engineer Amaro Moço resorted to a technique they had already used on the previous album: the use of cuts and collages from different recordings. The result is a piece that orbits around a keyboard mantra, with guitarist Dado Villa-Lobos providing a violon accompaniment. The album it belongs to, *Dois*, released in 1986, is considered one of the band's most important works, and songs like *Eduardo e Mônica* and *Quase sem Querer* also resonated with the public. The critics of the time highlighted *Índios* as the most intriguing piece on the record, describing it as a way of translating the despair of the "first and real owners of Brazil", suggesting that the innocence of the "gentiles" could teach us a lot.