New (Antonio Dutra)

Born “in the Kingdom of the Congo” and baptized in the parish of Nossa Senhora dos Remédios, in Luanda, Antônio Dutra arrived very young in Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Working as a barber, he managed to save enough money to buy his manumission and prosper. When he died, in 1849, he was already a wealthy man and a member of the fraternities of Saint Ephigenia and Saint Elesbaan, Our Lady of the Rosary, Saint Benedict of the Black Men and the Third Order of Saint Dominic. Dutra got rich due to his occupation both as a barber and as a musician and leader of an orchestra of barbers, composed of enslaved and freed men, both African and born in Brazil. After his death, an inventory of his possessions listed several musical instruments.