If she were alive, Beth Carvalho would be 77 years old today.

Rio - Beth Carvalho, with whom I shared many beers at samba gatherings in Cacique de Ramos, has gone - once again - to sing in heaven.

Long before I moved to Rua Uranos, next to Cacique de Ramos, I used to frequent the samba circles that Bira, Ubirany, Sereno, Zeca Pagodinho, Sombrinha and other samba greats held under the tamarind tree.

I was starting out in journalism and dreamed of interviewing the great Beth Carvalho, a constant figure in the samba circles of Cacique de Ramos. But I was very shy, and she wasn't just the godmother of the Fundo de Quintal group, she was the Queen of Cacique, respected and admired by everyone. So, I just kept watching.

Singer Beth Carvalho was brought to the group in 1977 by Alcir Portela, a former Vasco player. Coming from the Bossa Nova era, and already a renowned samba singer, she was enchanted by that new sound of samba.

He fell in love with the sound of the tantã, which already existed but was played differently by Sereno. He also loved the repique de mão, which was a normal drumstick repique; Ubirany removed the skin underneath, placed a piece of wood inside, and created a new instrument; in addition to the banjo with a shorter neck and cavaquinho tuning that Almir Guineto invented and played masterfully.

Passionate about the sound of the "boys," in 1978 she introduced the group to Rildo Hora and with them made, for RGE, the album "Pé no Chão," which was a turning point in her career, for having brought this new sound to samba.

The album became a hit throughout Brazil with the song "Vou Festejar," by Jorge Aragão, Dida, and Neoci.

Beth knew how to recognize talent when she saw it. In 1983, already famous as the "Godmother of Samba," she was impressed by the talent of a skinny boy who sang like a grown-up. The boy impressed his godmother so much that Beth immediately said, "I'm going to record this samba, and I want you singing with me!" And the boy became Zeca Pagodinho.

Elizabeth Santos Leal de Carvalho was born in Rio de Janeiro, in the Saúde neighborhood, on May 5, 1946. At the age of 8, along with the guitar she received from her grandparents, her love for music emerged.

Politically engaged, her involvement in samba music extended to political activism. Like her father, she admired Leonel Brizola and Fidel Castro. A member of the PDT party, she supported Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in all his presidential campaigns. She was part of the chorus that sang the jingle for the Diretas Já movement in 1989. She also supported the MST (Landless Workers' Movement).

A Mangueira supporter at heart, during the 2007 Carnival, already suffering from back problems, she requested a float to parade on, but on the day of the parade she was barred by a Mangueira director. She was away from the school for 4 years. In 2011, after a four-year absence, Beth returned to support her beloved school. She went to the parade in a wheelchair, due to recent surgery, to honor Nelson Cavaquinho, her friend and favorite composer.

In the late 90s, Eulália Figueiredo, a press officer, invited me to interview Beth Carvalho at a restaurant in the Rio Sul Shopping Mall. We had a long chat, drank, and I fulfilled my childhood dream of interviewing the great Beth Carvalho.

Beth Carvalho died in Rio de Janeiro this Tuesday (April 30, 2019), at the age of 72.

Thank you, godmother!!!