Born and raised in Tucumán, Argentina, Mercedes Sosa initiated her performing career at fifteen after capturing first prize in a radio-station amateur contest. A vocalist of rich timbre and interpretive depth, she received the epithet “the voice of the silent majority” because she consistently chose material with overt political content. Working alongside Violeta Parra and Atahualpa Yupanqui, she propelled the nueva canción movement that fostered the spread of protest song across Argentina and Chile throughout the 1960s. The movement suffered a decisive setback in 1973 when a CIA-backed coup removed Chile’s democratically elected president, Salvador Allende. Her songs advocating human rights and democratic ideals marked her as a grave threat to the military regime that seized power, leading to her arrest onstage in 1975—an incident that also brought the detention of many spectators. Death threats drove her into exile in 1979; she spent three years abroad before staging a triumphant return concert in February 1982. She continued to record extensively in the years that followed. In fall 2000 she received a Grammy for Best Folk Album for Misa Criolla at the first Latin Grammy Awards, then won again in 2003 for Acústico and in 2006 for Corazón Libre. After earning multiple Grammy nominations for Cantora, Mercedes Sosa died on October 4, 2009, following a prolonged struggle with kidney disease. President Kilcher proclaimed three days of national mourning in her cherished Buenos Aires, concluding with a public funeral procession from the National Congress building to La Chacarita cemetery.
