El cuatro de octubre/October 4th
 |
| Photo from cancioneros.com. Click HERE. |
A Chilean composer, songwriter, artist, and folklorist who pioneered the Nueva Canción Chilena, Parra had her life story told in the 2011 film Violeta se fue a los cielos (click HERE for the trailer). Parra was born in San Fabián de Alico, a small town in Southern Chile, one of nine children born to parents who were not wealthy but who stressed the importance of culture to their children (Parra's brother, Nicanor Parra, was a celebrated poet of the "anti-poetry" movement). When Parra's father died in 1929, she and her siblings had to work to help feed the family. She and several of her siblings were performing their music in nightclubs when she met Luis Cereceda in 1934. The two married in 1938 and had two children: Isabel (1939) and Ángel (1943). Cereceda was a strong communist and while with him Parra also became involved in politics. She also continued to sing. Parra and Cereceda divorced in 1948. In 1949, she met and married Luis Arce, with whom she had her daugher, Carmen Luisa (1949). Parra continued performing and traveling with her children throughout Argentina. In 1952, her daughter Rosita Clara was born. That year, she also began collecting and collating authentic Chilean folk music. She also met poet Pablo Neruda, who introduced her to his friends. In 1954 Parra hosted a popular radio program in Chile, Sing Violeta Parra. She began to travel internationally to present and perform her work. In 1965 Parra began investing most of her energy in reviving a unique form of the peña, a center for the arts and for political activism. She composed her most famous song, Gracias a la vida, in 1966. Joan Baez popularized the song in the United States. Sadly, Parra died by suicide in 1967. In 2001, her son Ángel wrote the book Violeta se fue a los cielos (Violeta Went to Heaven) on which the 2011 movie is based.
For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.
Comments
Post a Comment