Dona Ivone Lara

Yvonne Lara da Costa OMC (April 13, 1922 – April 16, 2018), better known as Dona Ivone Lara, was a Brazilian singer and composer. Known as the Queen of Samba and Great Lady of Samba, she was the first woman to sign a samba-enredo and take part in a wing of composers in the school, Império Serrano.

Earning degrees in nursing and social work, she played an important role pioneering occupational therapy and worked alongside Dr. Nise da Silveira in psychiatric reform in Brazil. She dedicated herself to this activity for more than 30 years, before retiring and focusing exclusively on her artistic career.

Biography

Dona Ivone Lara was born as Yvonne Lara da Costa on April 13, 1922 on the street Voluntários da Pátria, in Botafogo, Zona Sul in Rio de Janeiro. She was the first daughter of seamstress Emerentina Bento da Silva and João da Silva Lara.

In a period in which patients with mental illness were institutionalized and abandoned by their families, Dona Ivone moved to the counties in Rio de Janeiro and neighboring states, locating relatives of the interned patients to present a different vision of the majority of medical diagnoses, which discredited the mental conditions of these people. All of this made up part of the therapeutic routine and the new complete vision that humanized the treatment of mental health. Beyond this, Dona Ivone brought music therapy to her patients at the Instituto de Psiquiatria do Engenho de Dentro. Using her contacts, she achieved sponsorship for instruments and the creation of a music workshop, which went on to support parties and socialization events among patients, their family members, and the hospital workers. This workshop later on gave rise to the bloco de carnaval "Loucura Suburbana", which still exists today. One month prior, she had participated on the first day of recording Sambabook, honoring her career with the record company Musickeria. Singers such as Maria Bethânia, Elba Ramalho, Criolo, Zeca Pagodinho, Martinho da Vila, Arlindo Cruz, Adriana Calcanhotto, Zélia Duncan, and Reinaldo, O Príncipe do Pagode, did versions of her songs while she herself recorded with Diogo Nogueira an unpublished song, composed by her grandson, André. In 2015, she made the list "Ten Great Women who Made History in Rio".

Death Dona Ivone died on April 16, 2018, at 96 years old due to cardiorespiratory failure after remaining interned for three days at the Centro de Tratamento e Terapia Intensiva (CTI) of the Coordenação de Emergência Regional (CER) in Leblon, Rio de Janeiro. 1982 – Special Sítio do Pica-Pau Amarelo, playing the role of Tia Nastácia