As we enter episode four of this season of Momentos Musicales, we are taking a slightly different tack, but still entirely in the spirit of this season. In many ways America – and I mean it in the broad sense, that several continents – South, Central and North America are like a sponge, soaking up dance, music and other elements of diverse cultures into an amalgam which I suggest we regard as the Great Americas Songbook. I hope you enjoy the diversity as much as I do.
A song which surely belongs in our Great Americas Songbook is Violeta Parra's “Gracias a la vida,” a song which easily crosses borders and, as we shall see, it also dresses easily into any number of different genres.
“Gracias a la vida” is rooted in Chilean folk music. As time passed and a diversity of different musical artists put their distinctive touches on Parra's song, it began to reach beyond the boundaries of Chile.
Mercedes Sosa put her stamp on the song. From her very intro, she claims a share. In 2009 the former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet expressed her "affection and admiration" for Mercedes Sosa and "Gracias a la vida" with the following phrase: “As you know today, ‘Gracias a la vida’ is a song of ours, but also a universal one.”
Joan Baez was born on January 9, 1941 in Staten Island, New York. Her father, Albert Baez, was born in Mexico, and his dad was a Methodist minister who preached in both Spanish and English to congregations in Brooklyn, New York. Joan's natural language as she emerged as a folksinger was English. It was not until later she began to include in her mix folk songs of the Americas and international origins. She also began to sing in Spanish and Portuguese as well as English. Her family's conversion to the Quaker religion when Joan was a child, and the faith's emphasis on non-violence and progressive activism made Joan Baez a near perfect match for the cultural and social activiist Violeta Parra.
Here’s a very contemporary intro to Parra's song, one which would likely never have occurred to Parra, Sosa, or even Baez. The song, still dressed in Spanish, becomes an American anthem through the musical language of jazz. Claudia Acuña, Chilean by nationality, landed in New York City in 1995. She attracted the attention of numerous jazzers who nurtured her interest in breaking out of the strict label of folksinger.
Same song, sung in Spanish in each of today's examples, yet dressing attractively in jazz, further proof that “Gracias a la vida” is a song for the ages and a perfect fit for our Great Americas Songbook.
Please join me tomorrow at 2 p.m. on KPAC 88.3 FM for more musical moments.
