1987

Born in the countryside of Rio de Janeiro, Clementina moved to the capital with her family, settling in the suburban neighborhood of Oswaldo Cruz. There, hanging out with samba musicians, she witnessed the birth and development of (very traditional) Portela samba school. In 1940, she got married and moved to Mangueira. Clementina worked as a house maid for over 20 years, before being "discovered" by composer Hermínio Bello de Carvalho in 1963, when he had her perform at the show "Rosa de Ouro", which toured the country’s most important capitals and was later turned into an LP that featured the jongo "Benguelê". Regarded as the queen of partido-alto (samba-derived style), with her unmistakable voice, she was praised by Elton Medeiros with the partido "Clementina, Cadê Você?". Besides that genre, she recorded corimás, jongos, cantos de trabalhos (all African-Brazilian ritual rhythms), etc., rescuing the memory of the connection between Africa and Brazil. In 1968, produced by Hermínio Bello de Carvalho, she recorded the historic LP "Gente da Antiga" with Pixinguinha and João da Bahiana. She made four solo albums (two of them named "Clementina de Jesus", plus "Clementina, Cadê Você?" and "Marinheiro Só"), and participated in numerous albums, like "Rosa de Ouro", "Cantos de Escravos" and "Milagre dos Peixes", by Milton Nascimento. In 1993, Paulinho da Viola, João Nogueira, Elizeth Cardoso and other big samba artists played a tribute concert for Clementina.