Helena Meirelles

Helena was born in a farm in Mato Grosso do Sul (Central West) and grew up surrounded by cowboys and guitarists. She was fascinated by the viola caipira (small acoustic guitar tytpical of the Brazilian countryside), but her family wouldn’t allow her to play, which she ended up doing anyway, undercover. She slowly became famous among the cowboys. She married upon her parents’ imposition at 17, then she abandoned her husband and started living with a man from Paraguay who played the guitar and the violin.