Alceu Valença

Born in 1946 in São Bento do Una, in Pernambuco’s agreste region, Alceu Valença heard singers at street markets as a child and found his first teacher in his grandfather, a poet and viola player. While still young, he moved to Recife, where he earned a law degree before leaving the profession for music. He began in 1968 with the band Underground Tamarineira Village, later renamed Ave Sangria. In Rio, he formed a partnership with Geraldo Azevedo, with whom he competed at festivals and recorded his first album. Disillusioned with the festivals, he returned to Recife in 1974 and, that same year, released his first solo LP, Molhado de Suor, on Som Livre. He reached a broad national audience in 1980 with Coração Bobo.