Felix Luna, historian, writer, politician and songwriter, has died in Buenos Aires, 5 November. He was 84. Born in Buenos Aires in 1925 to a well-connected family from La Rioja in Argentina’s poor northwest, he studied law, but soon turned to writing. He won his first prize for a short story in 1957, and wrote more than a score of books.
He was acclaimed as an historian, and explained Argentine history to the Argentines, notably in A brief history of the Argentines, but also in the first person account, Soy Roca, of a divisive 19th century politician and general, Julio Roca. In 1967 he founded the history magazine, Todo es Historia, which is still sold on newsstands around the country.
He entered into a fruitful partnership with composer Ariel Rodriguez in the 1960s, and wrote the words to music like the Misa Criolla, a mass using the idioms and language of folklore in the aftermath of the second Vatican Council, and Mujeres Argentinas, sung by Mercedes Sosa. His haunting tribute to the Swiss-born poetess, Alfonsina Storni, Alfonsina y el mar, is one of his most lasting contributions to popular musical culture.
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.
