Mercedes Sosa: The Voice Of Latin America

Mercedes Sosa gave two concerts in which she could hardly contain her own emotions. The first took place in Barcelona, ​​in 1973, during her first concert in Spain.

The country was ruled by the dictatorship of Francisco Franco and advertising concerts was strictly prohibited. But people flocked to sing along to her songs. “La Negra,” as she was known, ended up crying on stage.

The second of those unforgettable concerts took place in February, ten years later. She performed again in her native Argentina, after going through a bitter exile.

The Argentines also sang her songs and Mercedes confessed that she couldn’t even look at the audience. If she had, she wouldn’t have been able to hold back her tears. After that concert, Admiral Carlos Alberto Lacoste is said to have asked, “Who gave Mercedes Sosa permission to be in my country?”

Mercedes Sosa, ‘the voice of Latin America’, was a woman of humble origins who never compromised when faced with abusive powerful and who paid the price for her principles.

She also had and was, above all, a wonderful voice that made her singing a way of telling what life was like in Latin America for the whole world to hear.

Mercedes Sosa, a modest woman

Her official name was Haydée Mercedes Sosa, although her parents had agreed that her name would be Marta Mercedes. Her father registered her and, however, decided at the last minute to change his plans. Despite this, her whole family called her Marta.

She was born on July 9, 1935 in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina. There are a number of curiosities surrounding her date of birth and death.

Mercedes was born on the same day Argentina celebrates its independence, which was surprisingly signed in her hometown. Some 74 years later, ‘La Negra’ died on October 4, the birthday of Violetta Para, a woman to whom Mercedes brought world fame.

Sosa was the daughter of a simple sugar factory worker and a woman who earned a living washing the clothes of wealthy families. Her parents were loyal Peronists, and on October 17, 1950, they traveled to Buenos Aires to celebrate Peronist Loyalty Day.

On the same date, the singing teacher was not at her school. She was chosen to sing Argentina’s national anthem. This was her first public appearance.

The start of a successful career

Some of her classmates convinced her to join a local radio station because it was hosting a singing competition at the time. Mercedes agreed to do it and when she finished singing her entry, the radio station owner declared that the contest was over because they had already found their winner.

Since then Mercedes sang regularly on the radio. In 1957 she married Oscar Matus, a folk musician. They then moved to Mendoza, an Argentine province that they loved so much.

Some time later she gave birth to a son, Fabián Matus. Together with her husband and the poet Armando Tejada Gómez they created the New Latin American Songbook movement.

The marriage lasted only eight years. Her husband left her for another woman. Mercedes moved to Buenos Aires and in the same year an almost magical event took place.

During the Cosquín Folklore Festival, the most important of its kind in Argentina, musician Jorge Cafrune invited her to sing on stage, although she was never officially invited. She accepted the invitation and the audience was immediately captivated.

The Voice of Latin America

From that moment on, the success of Mercedes Sosa has never disappeared. First she conquered her own country, then all of Latin America and finally the whole world.

She found a new partner, ‘Pocho’ Mazzitelli, a musician’s agent, who never left her. Those were happy times for her and she didn’t hesitate to call her second husband “the great love” of her life.

After the military coup in Argentina, she experienced difficult times. Initially, her records were banned and she was blacklisted by the dictatorship.

In 1978, during a recital in La Plata, one of her performances was interrupted by the military. Some officers beat her in public and arrested her and the rest of the public. After this event she went into exile. First she went to Paris and later to Madrid.

This exile was a bitter experience, especially since it coincided with the death of her second husband. She said it took her nine years to process that loss. Despite her loss, the public’s veneration, along with her singing, gave her back the zest for life.

There were new concerts again and they even experimented with rock music. She died on October 4, 2009 in a hospital in Buenos Aires, at the age of 74, leaving behind an amazing career and an absolutely immortal voice.