/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-BRAZIL: Precocious Rural Guitarist Finds Fame Late in Life

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 15 2003 (IPS) - Musician Helena Meirelles is one of those incredible cases that can only be explained in Brazil by the enormous size of the country, its prejudices, social disorganisation and the lack of opportunities for the common folk.

At age eight she proved her talent as a "violeira", a guitarist playing rural music, but did not receive recognition until 60 years later, initially in other countries, but later in her home country – as has been the case for other Brazilian artists.

This acknowledgment came in 1993 from the U.S. magazine "Guitar Player", which had received a home-recorded tape of Meirelles, sent by one of her grandsons. The magazine decided to include her on its list that year of the world’s 100 best guitar players.

Since then she has recorded four albums with her "viola", a variation of the Spanish guitar brought to Brazil by Jesuit priests during the colonial era, and which became popular in rural Brazil. There are "violas" of eight, 10 or 12 strings, with a variety of tunings.

In the past 10 years Meirelles has built a name for herself as a performer of what is known in Brazil as "sertaneja". She has staged successful concerts with her own instrumental compositions and tales of her life, told in a traditional, simple language. She also sings, though less frequently now due to health problems.

Born Aug. 13, 1924, she grew up on her Paraguayan grandfather’s ranch in the central-west Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, not far from the borders with Bolivia and Paraguay.

Her parents considered the "viola" to be something for men only, and they prohibited her from playing under threat of cutting off her fingers. But she rebelled and taught herself to play anyway, beginning when she was eight, hiding in the fields or the forests with her brother’s guitar.

By age nine she was enchanting relatives and neighbours with her music, taking part in groups that performed at local parties and festivals. Throughout that period she continued to work in the fields.

She married at 16 in order to escape the repressive environment of her family, but she later separated from her husband who, like her parents, would not tolerate her addiction to music. With him and other partners, Meirelles produced 11 children.

In addition to music, she had other customs that ran contrary to rural social norms, considered "for men only", such as drinking alcohol and chewing tobacco.

For a time she lived in a "house of women", as brothels were known, and began to make money as a musician, performing in rural areas of Mato Grosso do Sul and in the neighbouring state of Sao Paulo, both home to the ranch culture and "sertaneja" music.

Today, almost 79 years old, she is a celebrity known as "The Lady of the Guitar" and is the subject of three films.

In late June she travelled to Rio de Janeiro to launch her fourth album, "De volta ao Pantanal" (Return to the Pantanal), with her own compositions, as is the case of her previous collections.

"I don’t even think about quitting making my music," says Meirelles.

Film director Francisco de Paula is putting the final touches on his documentary "Dona Helena" to take it to upcoming festivals in Avellaneda, Argentina, and Trieste, Italy.

De Paula spent three years collecting old photographs and filming testimonies, concerts and places where the life of the "violeira" unfolded. Nearly all of the music included in the film is new, songs the guitarist composed especially for the project..

Another film about her life was directed by two women, Monica Schmiedt and Dainara Toffoli, and partially financed by the Ministry of Culture. The 52-minute movie has yet to make its public debut.

The third documentary on Meirelles, "Expresso Brasil", directed by Philipe Barcinski, was made for television and made its premiere last year.

The guitarist’s songs cover a range of rhythms and styles from Brazil’s rural environment, including ‘guarania’, of Paraguayan origin, ‘chalana’, ‘rasgueado’ and even the polka, which are little known in the big cities. Music lovers in urban areas are limited to "sertaneja" music in the form of simple songs performed by popular duets.

When Meirelles composes her songs, she nearly always paints a picture that would be identified with male stereotypes in the crude ranching culture, as if she were a man singing about the dramas of love and difficulties in the countryside.