Mercedes Sosa - `76

Mercedes Sosa, known as La Negra, (born July 9, 1935 in San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina – October 4, 2009, Buenos Aires) was an Argentine singer who was and remains immensely popular throughout Latin America and internationally. With her roots in Argentine folk music, in 1950, at age fifteen, she won a singing competition organized by a local radio station, and in the 1960s Sosa became one of the preeminent exponents of 'nueva canción' and started touring internationally. She also gave voice to many songs written by Brazilians and Cubans. She was best known as the 'voice of the voiceless ones'.

In the early 70s Sosa acted in the film El Santo de la Espada (The Saint of the Sword), a biopic of the Argentinian independence hero José de San Martín. Sosa's popularity found her touring internationally, her leftist political sympathies – a 1972 album "Hasta la Victoria" ("Until Victory") celebrated workers' struggles – making her especially welcome in the Soviet bloc. As a champion of the rights of the poor, Sosa became known as "the voice of the voiceless ones". These political leanings caused Sosa trouble when the Argentinian military, under Jorge Videla, staged a coup in March 1976. Initially, only some of Sosa's songs were censored, but as she became seen internationally as a voice of freedom, the harassment increased.

In early 1979, Sosa was performing in the Argentinian university city of La Plata when the military stopped the concert. Humiliating Sosa by searching her on stage, they then arrested her and 350 members of the audience. Sosa was detained for 18 hours until international pressure forced her release (she had to pay a large fine) but this event – alongside increasing numbers of death threats – forced her to flee to Europe, where she lived in Madrid and Paris.



Tracklist:

1 La Mamancy
2 Poema 15
3 La Trunca Norte
4 Las Estatuas
5 Drume Negrita
6 Cantor De Oficio
7 Los Pueblos De Gesto Antiguo
8 La Cuna De Tu Hijo
9 Peoncito De Estancia
10 Muchacho Pelador
11 Cuando Voy Al Trabajo
12 Indio

Mercedes Sosa - `76
(320 kbps, cover art included)