Born Teresa Adelina Sellarés in Corrientes, she was introduced to music when studying singing and taking guitar lessons at the age of nine. Her grandmother hosted frequent music festivals in her farm along the Paraná River, and there she learned the Chamamé as well as Zambas, Chacareras, Huaynos, Cuecas, and other popular South American folk music genres. She later performed in numerous local festivals in her youth. She married Guillermo Parodi, a systems analyst, in 1967, and they had two children. Both politically active in the left-leaning Peronist Youth, her husband was briefly detained during the dictatorship that took power in 1976; he lost his job in Corrientes as a result, and in 1979 the couple relocated to Buenos Aires. Teresa Parodi started her solo career at this time, performing at small venues in Buenos Aires, and in 1979 was brought on as guest vocalist for Astor Piazzolla's Nuevo tango quintet. Her 1980 debut album, Teresa Parodi desde Corrientes, was followed in 1983 by Canto a los hombres del pan duro, adding music to the work of prominent poets such as Jorge Luis Borges and Jorge Calvetti. Parodi was awarded the Consecration Award at the 1984 Cosquín National Folk Festival, and later performed as soloist in a number of notable events, including a 1986 concert with Cuban songwriter Pablo Milanés at Luna Park Stadium and in a 1988 tour of the U.S. and Europe. Parodi was voted Best Composer of the Decade in 1995, receiving a Platinum Konex Award to the effect, and in 1999 received the Gold Camín Lifetime Achievement Award at the Cosquín National Folk Festival. She was named Illustrious Citizen of Buenos Aires in 2006. Parodi went to compose approximately 500 songs in 30 albums and has been a constant presence at the thousand folk festivals across Argentina as well as in San Diego, Houston, Washington, New Orleans, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Santiago de Compostela, Paris, Brussels, Cuba, Mexico City, Chiapas, Monterrey, Antwerp, Zurich, Barcelona, Mataró, Stockholm, Amsterdam, São Paulo, Berlin, Seville, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Saragossa, Quito, and Asunción. Following a decision to promote the Culture Secretariat to a cabinet-level ministry, on May 7, 2014, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner nominated Parodi as the nation's first Minister of Culture.
Awards and recognition
1984: Consecration Award, Festival Nacional de Folclore de Cosquín.
1994: Best Album Con el alma en vilo, Asociación de Cronistas del Espectáculo.
1995: Platinum Konex Award, Best Songwriter/Composer of the Decade.
