July 9 is not only Argentina’s Independence Day but today is also the 70th birthday of singer Mercedes Sosa
Mercedes Sosa is one of the most well-known singers from Argentina. She sings folklore, songs of protest and social concern that were inspired by her native heritage and her roots in the provinces. In the 1970s her songs were censored by the military dictatorship ruling Argentina. She went into exile in 1979 until 1982 when the the dictatorship ended.
Since the 1960s Mercedes Sosa has performed throughout the world at top venues including Carnegie Hall in New York City.
I was fortunate to see Mercedes Sosa perform in Miami Beach a couple of years ago at the Jackie Gleason Theater. I had gotten seats fairly close to the front and it was an incredible concert. For weeks afterwards, I had one of her CDs in my stereo set to wake me up every morning with the sound of her voice.
Read these reviews of her concert performances, from London’s Guardian and from Colombian singer Marta Gomez who writes a wonderful entry about Mercedes Sosa, for whom she opened the concert at Boston’s Berklee Performance Center in 2003.
At 70 Mercedes Sosa is not performing so much anymore but if you get a chance to see her in concert then you definitely should go. If you don’t own one or more her albums, then go get one today.
September 25th, 2005 at 7:23 pm
Remember her last event in Casa Rosada. After 2 years of ostracism, she come back in… misterious ways!!
February 19th, 2006 at 3:35 am
[…] Saturday night we went to the park in Palermo to see Mercedes Sosa perform. It was a free concert on a nice summer night, so there was a huge crowd. It wasn’t the Stones in Rio but it was still a lot of people. I’ve written before about Mercedes Sosa where I talked about seeing her in Miami Beach a few years back. At that show I had a seat on about the 10th row; last night, it seemed like we were on about the 500th row. But we really enjoyed it anyway. […]
June 12th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
[…] I’ve written before about the great voice of Mercedes Sosa. Now via youtube you can see and hear Mercedes Sosa performing the beautiful “Gracias a la vida”. […]
December 7th, 2006 at 8:24 pm
I’m from Turkey. I admire Mercedes Sosa. Her voice deeply touches my heart and heals my soul. One of my passions is to be in her concert. Gracias Mercedes! Gracias A La Vida!!
May 21st, 2010 at 3:46 pm
I am mexican, I love Mercedes Sosa, I remember I was In my contry when for the first time I saw her in Palacio de Bellas Artes, it was w o n d e r f u l, the best. Today I am invited to a special event, and I will have the pleasure to sing Las Manos de Mi Madre. I’ll try not to cry. This is another opportunity to honor her by singing her songs and keep purchasing her music. Thank God I had the opportunity to see you!.