Clementina de Jesus

Origin

Valença, RJ

Also known as

Tina, Quelé

Years Active

1963–1987

Genres

samba, partido-alto, jongo, MPB, canto de escravos

Instruments

voz

Biography

Clementina de Jesus da Silva, widely known as Clementina de Jesus or Quelé, was born in Valença, Rio de Janeiro, in 1901. The daughter of a capoeira fighter and guitar player and a midwife, she grew up immersed in Afro-Brazilian traditions, absorbing songs and prayers passed down orally by her mother. She moved to the capital of Rio de Janeiro as a child, where she witnessed firsthand the formation of the first samba schools and joined carnival circles and traditional groups such as the Folia de Reis. Before achieving fame, she worked for decades as a maid and washerwoman, keeping alive her connection to roots music and popular manifestations.

Her artistic career took a late and striking turn in 1963, when she was discovered by producer Hermínio Bello de Carvalho at Taberna da Glória in Rio de Janeiro. From then on, she joined the anthological show Rosa de Ouro, alongside artists such as Aracy Cortes, Elton Medeiros, Paulinho da Viola, and Nelson Sargento, which launched her nationally and celebrated her unique and ancestral voice. With an unmistakable timbre and deep mastery of partido-alto and jongo, Clementina became a true living link between Brazilian culture and African heritage, recording fundamental albums and participating in projects alongside major exponents of MPB, such as Pixinguinha, Cartola, Milton Nascimento, and Candeia.

In the following decades, her importance was recognized internationally at festivals in Senegal and France, in addition to earning her living and post-mortem tributes from various samba schools and cultural institutions. Despite the difficulties she faced at the end of her life, marked by health problems and momentary ostracism, Clementina permanently cemented herself as the "queen of partido-alto." She passed away in 1987, leaving an indelible legacy in the rescue of traditional Black singing and in the history of Brazilian popular music.

Discography

• Aracy Côrtes - Clementina de Jesus – Rosa de Ouro (1965)
• Clementina de Jesus (1966)
• Aracy Côrtes - Clementina de Jesus – Rosa de Ouro Volume 2 (1967)
• Hermínio Bello de Carvalho com Cyro Monteiro, Nora Ney, Clementina de Jesus, Conjunto Rosa de Ouro – Mudando de Conversa (1968)
• Pixinguinha, Clementina de Jesus & João da Baiana – Gente da Antiga (1968)
• Clementina, Cadê Você? (1970)
• Marinheiro Só (1973)
• Clementina de Jesus Convidado Especial: Carlos Cachaça – Convidado Especial: Carlos Cachaça (1975)
• Clementina e Convidados (1979)
• Clementina de Jesus, Doca, Geraldo Filme – O Canto dos Escravos (1982)
• Odete Amaral, Cartola, Clementina de Jesus, Nelson Cavaquinho, Carlos Cachaça, Zezinho – Fala Mangueira! (1997)
• Nova Bis (2005)
• Canções que Marcaram (2025)