Soledad Bravo

Spain-born and Venezuela-raised Soledad Bravo emerged as a leading figure in the nueva cancion movement that swept Latin America during the 1970s and 1980s. While she performed traditional and popular material with equal skill, her most lasting contribution came through protest songs. Billboard described her voice as an exceptional instrument, and The Diario in Madrid stated that her voice captivates you, the range is so wide and its strength is amazing.

Her father’s political convictions shaped her own outlook from an early age, prompting the family’s move to Venezuela when she was seven. At Liceo Rafael Urdaneta she joined a student ensemble and continued singing after enrolling at the Central University of Venezuela to study architecture, psychology and literature. Upon graduating in 1967 she secured a regular morning slot on the television program Buenos Dias and remained with the show for several years. Her first album, Soledad Bravo Canta, appeared in 1968 and featured her reading of Carlos Puebla’s tribute to Che Guevara, “Hasta Siempre.”

From 1969 through 1976 she concentrated on Latin American repertoire, issuing three commercially successful albums and performing across Peru, Argentina, Chile and Mexico. In 1972 she released the double-album En Vivo devoted to songs of the Spanish Civil War. Four years later an invitation brought her to Spain, where a television appearance alongside flamenco guitarist Manolo Sanlucar established her reputation nationwide. During her four-year residence there she recorded multiple projects, among them a 1977 collaboration with Spanish poet Rafael Alberti and the collection Cantos Sefardies, which earned the Grand Prix Du Disque in France.

She next turned toward tropical music and traveled to New York to record Caribe under the direction of salsa musician Willie Colon. Four years afterward she completed a self-titled album supported by Eddie Gomez, Airto Moreira, Paquito D’Rivera, Jorge Dalto, Ray Barreto, Yomo Toro and Spyro Gyra.