Mercedes Sosa 1973
This past Sunday, October 4th, a great light went out in Latin America and in our world.
Mercedes Sosa had one of the most powerful female voices I have ever heard and she became a voice for the longings of her country and her people in a time when they desperately needed one.
Born in northern Argentina, she began recording, performing and touring in the mid 1960′s, starting mainly with Argentine folk songs and widening her repetoire to include songs from across Latin America.
She supported Perron in her youth and was a key figure in what was called the “new song” movement in Argentina, a movement that captured the change embodied by the 60′s.
In 1971, she recorded a tribute album to the Chilean poet Violetta Parra, which included a cover of Parra’s song, Gracias A La Vida, or Thank You To Life, which became one of Mercedes Sosa’s signature pieces.
In the 1970′s, as Argentina became more and more oppressive under the military dictatorship, the voice of Mercedes Sosa began to be seen by the authorities as too powerful in it’s heartfelt honesty and in 1976 she and her entire audience were arrested and searched at a concert.
Mercedes was only released through international pressure, and she was then banned from Argentina and would not return until 1982, just months before the military government fell.
I first heard her voice on one of the world’s best radio stations, CKUA, in Alberta, singing Gracias A La Vida from the recording of her homecoming concerts in Beunos Aires. I was captivated by the great power and deep love for humanity I heard in her and I’ve been listening to her ever since.
I wanted to share with you this You Tube video of her singing Gracias A La Vida and I managed to track down a lovely English translation of the lyrics, which I’ve re-printed below, which you might want to read first and then watch the video.
Mercedes Sosa has become my icon for the power of a single female voice and what it can embody in and for the world, and this song has become my favorite gratitude song of all time.
I sincerely hope you enjoy this and as always I would love to hear your comments below.
Thank you to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me two beams of light, that when opened,
Can perfectly distinguish black from white
And in the sky above, her starry backdrop,
And from within the multitude
The one that I love.
Thank you to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me an ear that, in all of its width
Records— night and day—crickets and canaries,
Hammers and turbines and bricks and storms,
And the tender voice of my beloved.
Thank you to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me sound and the alphabet.
With them the words that I think and declare:
“Mother,” “Friend,” “Brother” and the light shining.
The route of the soul from which comes love.
Thank you to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me the ability to walk with my tired feet.
With them I have traversed cities and puddles
Valleys and deserts, mountains and plains.
And your house, your street and your patio.
Thank you to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me a heart, that causes my frame to shudder,
When I see the fruit of the human brain,
When I see good so far from bad,
When I see within the clarity of your eyes…
Thank you to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me laughter and it gave me longing.
With them I distinguish happiness and pain—
The two materials from which my songs are formed,
And your song, as well, which is the same song.
And everyone’s song, which is my very song.
