by Alvaro NederElizete Cardoso, the singer whose album Chega de Saudade launched the bossa nova, was also the first popular singer to interpret Villa-Lobos at the Municipal Theaters of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and was considered by Almirante the best interpreter of Noel Rosa. Adored by Edith Piaf (Cest merveilleuse! Cest merveilleuse!), paid homage by Cartola (who wrote especially for her his famous samba-canção Acontece), and a most cherished artist by the Brazilian audiences, she was also known as the Divina (an alias given to her by Haroldo Costa and popularized by Vinicius de Moraes in his liner notes to Chega de Saudade). Her ample tessitura, capable of exploring faithfully both low and high registers, and her highly personal interpretation, full of a melancholy that witnessed the essence of an artist who experienced deep sadness in her life (along with all the rewards that success can bring), conveyed an unforgettable poetic densit...