Chilean folk icon Violeta Parra (1917-1967) was far more than the singer of “Gracias a la Vida.” In this episode, Erica Verba—Director of Latin American Studies at Cal State LA—reveals how Parra transformed from teenage street-busker and RCA-Victor recording artist into the archivist, painter and political catalyst who ignited Latin America’s Nueva Canción movement.We trace her itinerant childhood with the “Circo Pobre,” her reinvention as a self-taught ethnomusico
Reading time:
1–2 minutes
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