Mercedes Sosa
Argentine folk singer Mercedes Sosa, “the voice of Latin America” famous for her rendition of Gracias a la vida (Thanks to life), has died in a clinic in Buenos Aires, Argentina 4 October. The singer was hospitalized for a kidney failure. She died aged 74.
Born to a poor family in the northwestern province of Tucuman, she won a radio singing contest at age 15. She recorded two albums in the early 1960s but was not widely recognized, until in 1965 she was asked to sing onstage with Jorge Cafrune at the Festival de Cosquín, the country’s most important folklore festival. Two years later she toured the US and Europe, and incorporated many songs from around Latin America into her repertory.
During the Argentine military dictatorship, 1976-1983, her records were banned and she chose exile in Paris and later Madrid. But she came back in 1982 and sang her songs to packed houses in the Teatro Opera in Buenos Aires. She was a Unesco ambassador for Latin America and the Caribbean, and was nominated for a Latin Grammy award for her album Cantora 1 September 2009.
She could often be seen around Buenos Aires in her black (of course) Mercedes or at everyone’s favourite fish restaurant, Oviedo.
This work by genevalunch.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.
News story, GenevaLunch, 4 October 2009.
Filed under: World news
Tags: Buenos Aires Argentina, Festival de Cosquin, Gracias a la Vida, Jorge Cafrun, Latin American folkore, Mercedes Sosa, Society, Tucuman
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October 5th, 2009 at 12:09 am
Querida, fuiste la mayor expresion de latinidad y fuerza para nuestros pueblos. Nos uniste con el corazon y las muchas penas. Gracias, mil gracias
October 5th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Mercedes is a simbol of grandeur of the soul and a person’s humility.
She has been part of my family always through her beautiful songs and her attitude to life. I has been always thanked to her for her kindness of going to a bar in Berkeley, California, to meet my children when they were students at UC, Berkeley. They asked her questions and she talked to them with sweetness and simplicity.
When my wife passed away, at her funeral and per my wife request, the 247 persons attending the service in Thousand Oaks, California, were singing in English the translation of Gracias a la Vida.
The memories of that moment will be with me and my children forever.
Muchas gracias Mercedes! Has tocado nuestro corazon y siempre estarás con nosotros.