Sosa was born on 9 July 1935, in
San Miguel de Tucumán, in the
northwestern Argentine province of
Tucumán, of
mestizo ancestry. She was of French, Spanish and
Diaguita descent. Her parents, a day laborer and a washerwoman, In 1950, at age fifteen, she won a singing competition organized by a local radio station and was given a contract to perform for two months. brought her to the attention of the Argentine public. In 1967, Sosa toured the United States and Europe with great success. In later years, she performed and recorded extensively, broadening her repertoire to include material from throughout Latin America. In the early 1970s, Sosa released two concept albums in collaboration with composer
Ariel Ramírez and lyricist
Félix Luna:
Cantata Sudamericana and
Mujeres Argentinas (Argentine Women). She also recorded a tribute to Chilean musician
Violeta Parra in 1971, including what was to become one of Sosa's signature songs,
Gracias a la vida. During the 1970s she was a part of two films by the director
Leopoldo Torre Nilsson:
El Santo de la Espada in 1970 and
Güemes, la tierra en armas in 1971, in which she portrayed
Juana Azurduy de Padilla, the guerrilla military leader who fought for Argentine independence. After the
military junta of
Jorge Videla came to power in 1976, the atmosphere in Argentina grew increasingly oppressive. Sosa faced death threats against both her and her family, but refused for many years to leave the country. At a concert in
La Plata in 1979, Sosa was searched and arrested on stage, along with all those attending the concert. She related to this feeling and struggled to continue recording and performing. In an interview with the New York Times, she said, “It was a mental problem, a problem of morale...It wasn’t my throat, or anything physical". In 2002, she sold out both
Carnegie Hall in New York and the
Colosseum in Rome in the same year. She opposed President
Carlos Menem, who was in office from 1989 to 1999, and supported the election of
Néstor Kirchner, who became president in 2003. Sosa was a
UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Latin America and the Caribbean. Sosa disliked being identified as a protest singer. While she was outright in her political stances, Sosa said the following on the position of the artist: In a career spanning four decades, she worked with performers across several genres and generations, folk, opera, pop, rock, including
Martha Argerich,
Andrea Bocelli,
David Broza,
Franco Battiato,
Jaime Roos,
Joan Baez,
Francis Cabrel,
Gal Costa,
Luz Casal,
Lila Downs,
Lucio Dalla,
Maria Farantouri,
Lucecita Benitez,
Nilda Fernández,
Charly Garcia,
León Gieco,
Gian Marco,
Nana Mouskouri,
Pablo Milanés,
Holly Near,
Milton Nascimento,
Pata Negra,
Fito Páez,
Franco De Vita,
Lourdes Pérez,
Luciano Pavarotti,
Silvio Rodríguez,
Ismael Serrano,
Shakira,
Sting,
Caetano Veloso, Sosa participated in a 1999 production of
Ariel Ramírez's
Misa Criolla. Her song
Balderrama is featured in the 2008 movie
Che, starring
Benicio del Toro as the Argentine
Marxist revolutionary
Che Guevara. Sosa was the co-chair of the
Earth Charter International Commission. ==Awards==