Argentine revolutionary folk singer Mercedes Sosa died Oct. 4, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Known as “The voice of Latin America,” Mercedes “La Negra” Sosa was one of the greatest exponents of the “Nueva Canción” or New Song Movement.
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Born to a poor, working-class family on July 9, 1935, in San Miguel Tecumán, Sosa started her singing career at age 15. Of Quechua ancestry, Sosa became a symbol of empowerment for many oppressed people, especially amongst people of indigenous descent in Argentina and Latin America.
She toured the world, her voice always carrying a profound message of support for oppressed and exploited people all around the world. Her songs often depicted the cruel legacy of plunder, genocide and exploitation of Latin America. In 1972, Sosa released the socially and politically charged album “Hasta la Victoria.”
Mercedes Sosa and many other Latin American artists at that time were part of the Nueva Canción or Nueva Trova Movement. Greatly inspired by the Cuban Revolution, this movement was characterized by protest songs, with a strong anti-imperialist and revolutionary message.
Nueva Canción emphasized a call to resist. It became the soundtrack of the revolutionary movements in Latin America. From Cuban artists like Silvio Rodriguez and Carlos Puebla, to Argentine artists like Atahualpa Yupanqui and Mercedes Sosa, the movement’s music spoke about revolutionary movements in Nicaragua, Chile, Bolivia, and many other countries in Latin America. It memorialized the struggles of great Latin American revolutionary leaders.
This movement was so popular that it was often targeted by the right-wing, U.S.-supported forces of repression that tried to stem the revolutionary tide in Latin American during that period.
After the 1973 Chilean coup, Victor Jara, well-known singer, songwriter, and one of the most popular figures of the Nueva Canción Movement, was tortured and killed by the Augusto Pinochet regime.
As a member of Nueva Canción and a member of the Communist Party of Argentina, Mercedes Sosa faced harsh censorship and repression. After a 1976 military coup led by Jorge Rafael Videla installed a right-wing dictatorship that killed and disappeared more than 30,000 people, Sosa became a target.
She and her audience of more than 350 people were arrested during a concert in La Plata. “I remember when they took me prisoner,” Sosa said in a 2007 interview. “I was singing for university kids who were in the last year of veterinary school. It wasn’t political.”
She was let free 18 hours later because of international pressure and after paying a $1,000 fine. She was then forced to leave her homeland and seek exile in France and live in Spain. “I knew I had to leave … was being threatened by the Triple A [a right-wing death squad that terrorized suspected dissidents during the 1976-83 military rule]. The people from the navy, the secret services were following me.” She returned in 1982 just before the military dictatorship crumbled.
Mercedes Sosa gave a voice to the voiceless, she was a great influence and inspiration to many people who joined and fought in the social movements of the time. As Latin America experiences yet another upsurge in the resistance to U.S. imperialism, Sosa—like many of her contemporary revolutionaries—set examples for the continued struggle for liberation.
¡Mercedes Sosa, presente!
