The work consists of an installation of documents from the Censorship Department of the Federal Police, called “Public Entertainment Censorship Division”, that operated during the Brazilian Military Dictatorship (1964-1985). These documents refer to the censorship of Brazilian popular music (MPB) and are divided into 3 types of files that give an account of the censorship process and subsequent negotiations with this system:

The black files (110 x 77 cm) show the lyrics of the songs with annotations and observations of the censors and stamps indicating whether there is VETO, PROHIBITION or RELEASE of the song.

The gray files (77 x 52 cm) correspond to the internal documentation of the Technicians of the Division of Censorship and Public Amusements, where the systems of analysis of the contents of the music and the conflicts that may result from them are indicated.

Finally, the wooden files (77 x 52 cm) which correspond to the appeals sustained by the singer-songwriters or their record labels, as well as letters from people requesting the censorship of some cultural manifestation.

The series is made up of a total of 76 files that are grouped according to the reference to the questioned song. Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento, and Elis Regina are some of the singers and composers who appear in this selection of the “censored” and that, when confronted with these files, allow us to dimension an aspect of the relationship between cultural development and dictatorship in Brazil, and also in Latin America.