Dispararon Al Pianista / They Shot the Piano Player

A moving homage to Tenório Junior, a pianist whose promising career was cut short by a cruel twist of fate in one of the darkest chapters in Latin American history.

Born in Río de Janeiro, Francisco Tenório Cerqueira Júnior was one of the best-known piano players on the samba-jazz scene. He was a fixture of Copacabana, the cradle of Brazilian music, and a member of Os Cobras, a highly respected instrumental group. At 3:00 a.m. on March 18, 1976, after performing alongside Vinicius de Moraes and Toquinho at the Gran Rex in Buenos Aires, he left the hotel where he was staying to buy cigarettes and medicine but never returned. He was just 34 years old. What happened that night? Tortured by this question, the narrator of They Shot the Piano Player launches an investigation into the fateful circumstances that ended the life of a musician destined to change the course of Brazilian music.