Search - Violeta Parra :: Las Ultimas Composiciones

VIOLETA UNPLUGGED

C. Scanlon | among us humans | 01/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You might consider this disk as Violeta Parra Unplugged, not that she ever went electric, but the instrumental arrangements here are very basic, at times just her and her charanguito. As indicated in the title, these are final compositions, sometimes recorded here in an incomplete state, like those many posthumous Jimi albums which appeared and continue to appear.



Certainly we have the well-known Gracias a la Vida, which was most memorably recorded by Mercedes Sosa and available as Gracias a la Vida and elsewhere. This powerful and moving anthem here receives a simple arrangement with a trotting charango acccompanying.



Other well known and strong street songs appear here, including "Me ha llegado una carta. Arrestaron a mi hermano." What is most wanted here is a good lyric sheet, so we can hear the words of Violeta without hunting them out in other places. Repeated listening helps very much, and is very welcome in any case, but some of the songs in their early draft state are partially quite unintelligible to my unfamiliar ears. Nevertheless they are all beautiful and moving and present a great variety in rhythms and style and subject from song to song.



I am very happy to have this disk; I only wish I could read the words and their full context. Some say she was the Latin American Joan Baez (odd, as Joan herself is paternally Latina); I say she is so much more. She is the maternal voice of the Andes, the mouth of the massive mountains opening in song. She is the voice of the voiceless poor, of the oppressed, and she must be heard even now, especially now, a near half century later."

Violeta at her Best

Debra Miller | Athens, AL USA | 02/01/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Violeta shines so brightly in this collect that I consider it her best work. If you can only have one CD by Violetta, get this one!



The passion, the politics, and the raw folklore of the artist comes through with each unique work of art included here."