Biography
Stefana de Macedo dedicated herself to the preservation of northeastern Brazilian folklore through song. Her earliest musical training took place at Colégio Ramp Williams in Rio de Janeiro RJ, where Patrício Teixeira and Rogério Guimarães guided her studies of piano and violão. In 1928, at the age of twenty-three, she made her first public appearance in a recital at the Teatro Lírico. That performance brought recording offers from both Odeon and Columbia. Throughout her career she performed only material rooted in folk tradition or directly inspired by it, and her resulting albums enjoyed wide popularity. Among her best-known recordings were the songs “História Triste De Uma Praieira,” “Mãe Maria Camundu,” “Bicho Caxinguelê,” “Sussuarana,” “Sodade Caboca,” “Nos Cafundó do Coração,” “Era Aquilo Só,” and “Saia Do Sereno,” along with numerous others; she composed several of these pieces herself while also interpreting works by João Pernambuco, Heckel Tavares, Luiz Peixoto, Olegário Mariano, and Adeimar Tavares. During Getúlio Vargas’s official visit to Argentina she was invited to give a performance at Buenos Aires’s Teatro Colón, with Villa-Lobos providing piano accompaniment. The concert’s reception led to a contract with Radio Belgrano. Among the honors she received, the tribute from the Academia de Letras de São Paulo stands out.