Projeto Amigos meets at a festival in RS; remember the group’s trajectory

Bringing together big names in country music, the group Amigos is responsible for the first performance of Save the South festival this Friday (7). Formed by Zezé Di Camargo and Luciano, Chitãozinho and Xororó and Leonardo the singers come together to celebrate the duos’ traditional songs.

Started in a year-end special on Rede Globo, the first program that brought together country people was in 1995. In the first scenes, the Friends appeared gathered at a table, eating a meal and talking about the importance of friendship. After that, they were shown on a large stage, alongside a super production with lights and dancers, singing their hits in an instrumental version.

Among the songs sung together by the duos over the years are “Luar do Sertão”, “Te Amo Cada Vez Mais (To Love You More)”, “Festa de Rodeio”, “Marcas Do Que Se Foi”, among others. The festival also had special appearances such as Daniel, Simone and Fat Family, who made appearances over the years.

Around 100 thousand people were present at Espaço Verde Chico Mendes, in São Caetano, where the show was recorded. It was such a success that Rede Globo repeated the program twice the following year — in March and June 1996 — and continued with the end-of-year editions on television.

The program continued with editions until December 1998, when the end of the union was announced. At the time, the group had one more member than it does today — Leandro, Leonardo’s duo. The singer passed away in June 1998, victim of lung cancer.

In the month following the artist’s death, the broadcaster organized a Amigos show as part of the “Brazil 500” project, recorded in Paris, France. For the first time, the group performed without Leandro — with Leonardo singing alone “Força Estranha”, by Roberto Carlos, who says: “A force leads me to sing […] That’s why I sing/I can’t stop.”

Amigos’ last show took place on Rede Globo’s end-of-year special in 1998, recorded in the same space as the first show, in São Caetano (SP).

The comeback

Twenty years after the end of the project, in 2019, the members announced the return of Amigos on a tour throughout Brazil. “Amigos 20 anos – a História Continua” took the five country folk initially to the Mineirão Stadium, in Belo Horizonte (MG), followed by Barretos (SP), São Paulo (SP), Porto Alegre (RS), Rio de Janeiro (RJ ), Fortaleza (CE) and other cities — until the presentations were interrupted by the pandemic.

In 2022, the Friends once again announced shows in Brazil, maintaining, until now, an interspersed schedule with the duos’ shows separately.

“I always say that Amigos works very well because it’s not a program that became a friendship, it’s a friendship that became a program. We feel very good together, we like to talk, hug, make fun, it’s a story built. It’s having the privilege of being alongside people who you thought would just be fans, but are your co-workers”, he said in an interview with Gshow during the backstage of an Altas Horas program.