No one can take a deep dive into Brazil in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s without reading Antonio Callado's novels. From 1967's Quarup to 1985's Concerto Carioca, Callado's books chronicle the country's journey over 20 years. From the political chatter in Rio's South Zone bars to the rural guerrillas. From the role of the Catholic Church in the resistance during the "Years of Lead" to the periodic kidnappings of ambassadors. From the return of political exiles to the first signs of openness to the arrival of the winds of redemocratization. It's all there. Much has been written about these times. They have almost always been memoirs, or, in other words, written with the confidence that only the passage of time brings. Callado wrote his novels while Brazil was in turmoil. The thoughts he expresses in his work from this period were felt by him as they were unfolding. His characters could be a neighbor, a friend, or a close relative of the reader. It's been said that "Concert Carioca" is the author's quintessential urban novel. Set in Rio de Janeiro, without its characters traveling to the Xingu River or the Bolivian border, as in previous texts, it touches on Leme, Senhor dos Passos Street, and Humaitá. But it's significant that one of its protagonists is the Botanical Garden, and one of its settings is the Indigenous Museum. Brazil, in the process of redemocratization, was a new Brazil. And, for that very reason, it was always surprising. Like "Concert Carioca."