Brazil: Samba artist Dona Ivone Lara awarded Ordem do Mérito Cultural

With her delicate samba steps, she was crowned the queen of a world almost entirely dominated by men. Yvonne da Silva Lara, known as Dona Ivone Lara, realized still as a kid the significance of her ancestry and the gift she had through glimpses of her future as a pioneer of samba. It was after much struggle and resistance, however, that she was able to build a remarkable career. Aged 95 today, she is hailed by all wherever she goes.

On Monday (Nov. 7), at the Planalto presidential palace, the samba artist is set to receive one more award. The ceremony of the Ordem do Mérito Cultural, the Brazilian government's main accolade for culture today, is expected this time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of samba and have Ivone Lara as its chief honoree.

The child, who at the age of 12 had already lost both her parents and was already falling in love with choro and samba, composed Tiê Tiê, an unpretentious song that repeats what she used to hear from her grandmother, herself a child of slavery: “Oialá-oxa.”

Forced to cope with prejudice for being a woman, she gave up the composition rights of her first pieces so they could be accepted. Mestre Fuleiro, her cousin, would provide his signature in her stead, while Ivone Lara would gauge the reaction of the public from up close, recounts journalist Mila Burns, author of the book Nasci Pra Sonhar e Cantar (2009), on Ivone Lara. Their plan did the trick.

In 1965, Lara was invited, along with two partners, to compose the samba theme song with which samba school Império Serrano was to parade for Carnival that year as a tribute to Rio de Janeiro's 400th anniversary, thus becoming the first woman ever to pen a theme song and join the composers' wing in a samba school.

The samba song Os Cinco Bailes da História do Rio, written in partnership with Silas de Oliveira and Bacalhau, in 1965, is known as a “classic and one of the most important samba theme songs,” according to Professor Edson Farias, from the National Council for National Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). The fact that she was a member of an award-winning samba school, the professor says, brought prestige and visibility to Dona Ivone Lara both in Rio de Janeiro and countrywide.

In the following years, Lara kept doing what she likes best, even though she did not stop working as a nurse until she retired, after which she dedicated her life exclusively to music. Délcio Carvalho was her most faithful partner. She composed, along with Carvalho and other fellow composers, songs recorded by a number of singers, such as Acreditar (1976), Alguém Me Avisou (1980), Tendência (1981), Nasci para Sonhar e Cantar (1982), in addition to the classic Sonho Meu (1978).

“She is a black woman of humble origins who lived in a favela. After struggling to get an education and become a nurse, she managed to enter a space virtually inhospitable to people with roots like hers. This is how Dona Ivone Lara asserted herself as a mainstay of samba, a key figure for the less privileged portion of the population to relate,” he explains.

Despite the tributes, accolades, and participation in a number of international festivals, her legacy as an independent groundbreaker is yet to yield fruit. “Sadly, I cannot say her achievements brought about change in society or the world of samba as a whole. There is still a long way to go in both of them,” Mila Burns maintains.

Of the 30 personalities to be awarded in the Ordem do Mérito Cultural, only eight are women—among them samba singer Clementina de Jesus, to be honored in memoriam.

Translated by Fabricio Ferreira