Jovelina Pérola Negra's 78th Birthday

Jovelina Pérola Negra’s deep, swinging voice and graceful improvisations revolutionized Brazil’s samba dance movement in the 1980s. Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Rio De Janeiro-based guest artist La Minna, celebrates the singer-songwriter’s 78th birthday. 

Pérola Negra was born as Jovelina Faria Belfort in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and grew up singing and dancing samba in the Belford Roxo neighborhood. Her friend suggested the stage name Jovelina Pérola Negra (meaning “black pearl” in Portuguese) because it suited her radiant complexion and elegant voice.

Until age 40, Pérola Negra worked as a housemaid and spent her free time attending Império Serrano, a celebrated samba school in Rio de Janeiro. She regularly sang at community samba parties called pagodes in the working-class suburbs of Rio de Janeiro.  

After a local producer discovered her at a pagode, Pérola Negra received the opportunity to record her first album, Raca Brasileira, with other newly discovered artists. The singers all performed the Partido Alto subgenre of samba, a style that offers vocal improvisation and singalong opportunities for the audience. Pérola Negra lent her singing and songwriting skills to three compositions on Raca Brasileira. It was wildly successful and the record label, RGE, hired Negra to record her first solo album. 

Pérola Negra released her self-titled debut album to further acclaim. The song arrangements supported her emotional vocals with a cavaquinho, a Portuguese stringed instrument that resembles a ukulele—like the ones pictured in today’s Doodle. She released four more individual albums in the prime of her career, experimenting with different genres, like the slower-paced samba-canção, and earning a platinum record. Pérola Negra performed around the world in Angola, France and Japan before passing away from a heart attack at age 54.

The Brazilian Ministry of Culture awarded Pérola Negra the Order of Cultural Merit in 2016. A community center located in the Pavuna neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro was also named in her honor. Today, her music can be found on streaming platforms and in record stores all over the world. 

Happy 78th birthday, Jovelina Pérola Negra!

Guest Artist Q&A with Lana Carollina Riberio

Today’s Doodle was illustrated by Rio De Janeiro-based guest artist La Minna. Below, she shares her thoughts behind the making of this Doodle:

Q. Why was this topic meaningful to you personally?

A: My greatest influences in life are in samba, in Brazilian popular culture, in festive and colorful Brazil. To talk about Jovelina is to talk about what I live and hear every day, is to talk about my formation as a person, is to talk about what I believe. It was too exciting for me to have the opportunity to honor her. Long live Jovelina, her music, and long live the enchanted Brazil! 

Q. What were your first thoughts when you were approached about working on this Doodle?

A: "I did it!". This subject in particular (the Brazilian music and culture), is usually what I like to talk about in my personal projects as an illustrator. To be able to talk about what I love in a commercial project and still at Google, was a great professional and personal victory. It was always a dream of mine to illustrate a Google Doodle.

Q. Did you draw inspiration from anything in particular for this Doodle? 

A: I was inspired by what I live, what my friends and family live, the carioca street culture, the backyard samba, the songs we hear on the street corners in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. I was inspired by Jovelina's samba and by the joyful suburb of Rio.

Q. What message do you hope people take away from your Doodle?

A: Let them remember that wonderful things exist in Brazil. Here we live so contaminated with bad news that sometimes we forget the beautiful things that only exist here. I hope this Doodle brings happy feelings and good memories to those who watch it.