Too busy for anything else, I’m going to post a piece of music I first heard only recently (on Radio 3) but which has been in my head ever since. It’s sung by Mercedes Sosa, an Argentinian singer with roots in the folk music of her native land but with an appeal through South America. This, Gracias a la Vida probably the most famous song she performed and when I first heard it on the radio it knocked me sideways; it’s so lyrical and so beautifully sung that it had me close to tears. I can’t really speak Spanish, but my schoolboy knowledge of Latin is enough to translate most of the words reasonably easily; the first line “Gracias a la Vida que me ha dado tanto” means “Thanks to life which has given me so much”.
The whole of the first verse is:
Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto
Me dio dos luceros que cuando los abro
Perfecto distingo lo negro del blanco
Y en el alto cielo su fondo estrellado
Y en las multitudes el hombre que yo amo
Hmm. Gorgeous. Latin languages have those lovely open vowels that make poetry seem so natural.
This isn’t just a song about counting your blessings, though. It’s the dark undertone of tragic irony which makes it so powerful. The song was actually written by Violeta Parra, a Chilean composer and songwriter, who took her own life in 1967.
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