Елена Мейреллес: Бразильская виртуоза виолы каипира

Brazilian musician
Helena Meirelles (August 13, 1924 – September 28, 2005) was a Brazilian guitar player, singer, and composer recognized around the world for her talent as a player of the viola caipira. She is one of the most important composers of the folk musical style of the region of Mato Grosso do Sul. Considered to be the Brazilian version of Robert Johnson, she was elected, in 1994 by Guitar Player magazine as one of the top 100 guitar players in the world.

Born in Bataguassu, at the time the district of Nova Andradina, Helena Pereira Meirelles grew up surrounded by entourages and guitar players. She was fascinated by violas caipiras, and her family would not allow her to learn how to play them. She ended up teaching herself in secret, and she faced strong prejudice because the viola was not appropriate for a woman to play. Little by little she was known among the cowboys of the region. She married at 17 years old at the imposition of her parents, abandoning her husband shortly after to join a Paraguayan who played violin and guitar. They also separated, and she resolved to play viola at bars and parties. In order to do so, she left her children from the two marriages with adoptive parents. She married a third time later on, which lasted another 35 years. After disappearing for more than 30 years, she was found very ill by a sister, who took her to São Paulo, where she was “discovered by the media” through a complementary reference in the North American magazine Guitar Player. She performed in a theater for the first time at 67 years old, and recorded albums afterwards. She was selected by Guitar Player in 1993 as one of the top 100 for her playing of 6, 8, 10, and 12 string violas. Her music is recognized by those from Mato Grosso do Sul as an expression of roots and culture of the region.

She died at 81 years old as a result of a cardiorespiratory arrest from chronic pneumonia.

In 1993, she was elected by the American magazine Guitar Player (with a vote from Eric Clapton) as one of the 100 best instrumentalists in the world, for her playing of 6, 8, 10, and 12 string violas. In 2012, she was included in a list of 30 greatest Brazilian icons of guitar (Category: Brazilian Roots) in the magazine Rolling Stone Brasil.