Arquivo

Documentary on the life of Brazilian guitar player Helena Meirelles, chosen as one of the world?s best instrument players by the specialized magazine Guitar Player. With images, all of them from Mato Grosso, on her own special request, and with a narrative by Rubens de Falco, the film focuses on what made this eighty-year-old musician famous: her unique music, a mosaic of Southern-Matogrosso rhythms of Paraguayan influence amongst these chamamé, rasqueado, polka, and other "strong rhythms" in the words of the musician, today a great-grandmother. Recorded on fazenda cattle ranches in the state and region of Bonito, the documentary focuses on the life of the inhabitants of the pantanal wetlands. Customs such as the tereré, the use of a cattle horn for the herd, and the Paraguayan influence in the music, are shown in detail, invariably against the sound track provided by the guitar. The peculiar habit of Helena Meirelles of telling "stories" that blend with her most unusual life history, was one of the resources utilized by the filmmaker to show the artistic and cultural significance of the Master of the Guitar in the national scenario.