Remembering Mercedes Sosa.

• Author: Holston, Mark
• Position: LATITUDES - In memoriam

On a fresh spring day three years ago in Buenos Aires, I stopped at a sidewalk kiosk to select just the perfect bouquet for the special lady I was about to meet for the first time. Arriving moments later al her 1960s era apartment building, I marveled at its privileged location opposite the architecturally imposing French Embassy on the city's imperial Avenida Nueve de Julio.

A smartly uniformed maid met me al the door and escorted me into an airy living room overflowing with treasures and trophies. With burning incense filling the white-walled room with a spicy fragrance, I took in the surroundings while waiting for my hostess' entrance. Vases of flowers filled every corner, stacks of books every nook. Oriental rugs and glass sculpture complemented walls blanketed with contemporary paintings and indigenous art. On the balcony, a forest of ferns, flowering plants and cacti framed a view that included the city's signature monument, the 220 foot tall obelisk, and the storied Teatro Colón opera house. An electronic keyboard, adjacent to an elaborate sound system, occupied the room's center stage. Nearby, plaques documenting some of the world's most esteemed awards provided insight into the life of the renowned artist I was about to meet. And then, Mercedes Sosa swept regally into the room.

When, on October 4, 2009, the 74-year old Argentine singer lost her long struggle with failing health, the world lost one of its most ardent champions of the oppressed. Throughout her life, with a voice as strong as the will of the disenfranchised masses she passionately defended in song and through personal example, Sosa remained committed to a belief that her music could help the downtrodden triumph over their abusers.

Born July 9, 1935 in the remote provincial capital of San Miguel de Tucumán, Sosa won a local singing contest at the age of fifteen and recorded the first of her 40 albums, La Voz de la Zafra , nine years later. A proud mestiza who claimed Quechua ancestry in her bloodline, she became one of the primary interpreters of the songs of Atahualpa Yupanqui (nee Héctor Roberto Chavero Aramburo), Argentina's greatest folk music composer.

Sosa also emerged as an early exponent of the movement that became know as nueva canción , a tradition of balladry that boasted folkloric roots and poetic lyrics that addressed social injustice and other societal ills.

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Her fame grew internationally when she began to incorporate the music of...