Biographical History
Luiz Heitor Corrêa de Azevedo (1905-1992) is recognized as the most significant Brazilian musicologist of the twentieth century. As a professor and composer, he taught at major French, Latin American, and American universities. Azevedo worked with the Department of Cultural Affairs within UNESCO, and served as Chief of the Cooperation Services with International Cultural Organizations. The International Music Council (IMC), a UNESCO supported global network of experts working in the field of music, made him a Member of Honour, and he was awarded the UNESCO/International Music Council Music Prize in 1977.
Azevedo's involvement in folk culture began in 1937, leading to a chair in National Folklore at Rio de Janeiro's National Institute of Music. In 1941, he visited Washington, D.C., as a guest of the Pan-American Union and returned to Brazil with recording equipment loaned to him by the Library of Congress. He undertook expeditions throughout Brazil to document the variety of Brazilian folk music. These collections of recordings are now part of the Archive of Folk Culture at the American Folklife Center. In 1997, some of the songs were released by Rykodisc as L. H. Corrêa de Azevedo: Music of Ceará and Minas Gerais in the Library of Congress Endangered Music series.
Source: Souto Maior, Mário. Dicionário de Folcloristas Brasileiros. Goiânia, 2000.