One of my favorite songs is "Gracias a la vida" written by Chilean Violeta Parra, who was a part of the nueva cancion movement that arose in the late 60's. Many of the artist who participated in this movement were persecuted by the right wing governments so prevalent in South America at that time. I first heard the song and about the movement when I was working in Beverly Hills. I had a little radio on my desk and every morning I would listen to KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. It was appropriately named as it featured all kinds of music. I was exposed to much of the so called World Music that was in vogue at that time. Gracias a la vida became Mercedes Sosa's song. This short woman from Argentina could control huge crowds with the power of her voice and no government dared attack her. Tonight, Lila Downs is performing in San Diego and I looked up her web site. She often performed with Mercedes Sosa. I found that Sra. Sosa died last year. I never saw a report in the US news. This woman was the voice of Argentina. They had three days of mourning ordered by the President of Argentina. What a difference a few years make. Thirty years ago the Argentinian government wanted to kill her and when she finally died the government celebrated her.
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