Violeta Parra

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Violeta Parra
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Violeta Parra

Violeta Parra in the 1960s

Background information

Birth name Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval

Born 4 October 1917

San Carlos, Chile

Origin San Carlos, Chile

 Died 5 February 1967 (aged 49)

Santiago, Chile

Genres Folk, experimental, nueva cancin

Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, Visual arts[1]

Instruments Vocals, Guitar, Charango, Cuatro, Percussion

Years active 1939 1967

Labels EMI-Odeon

Alerce

Warner Music Group

(all posthumous)

Associated Vctor Jara, Quilapayn,

acts Inti-Illimani, Patricio Manns,Illapu, ngel Parra, Isabel

Parra,Roberto Parra, Sergio Ortega,Margot Loyola, Pablo

Neruda,Nicanor Parra, Soledad Bravo,Daniel

Viglietti, Mercedes Sosa,Joan Baez, Holly Near, Elis

Regina, Dean Reed, Silvio Rodrguez

Website Official Website

Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval (4 October 1917 5 February 1967) was a Chilean composer,
songwriter, folklorist, ethnomusicologist and visual artist. She pioneered the "Chilean New Song",
the Nueva cancin chilena, a renewal and a reinvention of Chilean folk music which would extend its
sphere of influence outside Chile, becoming acknowledged as "The Mother of Latin American folk".
In 2011 Andrs Wood directed a biopic about her, titled Violeta Went to Heaven (Spanish: Violeta se
fue a los cielos).

Contents
[hide]

1Biography

o 1.1Early years

o 1.2First appearances, marriages

 o 1.3The folklorist

o 1.4First journey to Europe and prime

o 1.5Second European voyage: Affair with Gilbert Favre

o 1.6Return to South America

o 1.7"Gracias a la Vida"

o 1.8"Volver a los Diecisiete"

o 1.9Death and legacy

2Biopic

3Discography

o 3.1Studio albums

o 3.2Posthumous discography

4Further reading

5References

6External links

Biography[edit]
Early years[edit]
Parra was born in San Fabin de Alico, near San Carlos, uble Province, a small town in southern
Chile on 4 October 1917, as Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval.
Violeta Parra was a member of the prolific Parra family. Among her brothers were the notable
modern poet, better known as the "anti-poet", Nicanor Parra, and fellow folklorist Roberto Parra. Her
son, ngel Parra, and her daughter, Isabel Parra, are also important figures in the development of
the Nueva Cancin Chilena. Their children have also mostly maintained the family's artistic
traditions.
Her father was a music teacher and her mother worked on a farm, but sang and played the guitar in
her spare time. Two years after Violeta's birth, the family moved to Santiago, then, two years later, to
Lautaro and, finally, in 1927, to Chilln. It was in Chilln that Violeta started singing and playing the
guitar, together with her siblings Hilda, Eduardo and Roberto; and soon began composing traditional
Chilean music.
After Parra's father died in 1929, the life circumstances of her family greatly deteriorated. Violeta and
her siblings had to work to help feed the family.[2]
In 1932, at the insistence of her brother Nicanor, Parra moved to Santiago to attend the Normal
School, staying with relatives. Later, she moved back with her mother and siblings to Edison street,
in the Quinta Normal district.
First appearances, marriages[edit]
The Parras performed in nightclubs, such as El Tordo Azul and El Popular, in the Mapocho district,
interpreting boleros, rancheras, Mexican corridos and other styles. In 1934, she met Luis Cereceda,
a railway driver, whom she married four years later, and with whom she had two children. Her
husband was a militant communist, and, at his side, Parra became involved in the progressive
movement and the Communist Party of Chile,[3] taking part in the presidential campaign of Gabriel
Gonzlez Videla in 1944.
Parra began singing songs of Spanish origin, from the repertoire of the famous Argentinian singers
Lolita Torres and Imperio Argentina. She sang in restaurants and, also, in theatres, calling herself
Violeta de Mayo. In 1945, she appeared with her children Isabel and Angel in a Spanish show in the
Casanova confectionery.
In 1948, after ten years of marriage, Parra and Luis Cereceda separated. Parra and her sister Hilda
began singing together as "The Parra Sisters", and they recorded some of their work on RCA
VICTOR. In 1949, Violeta met and married Luis Arce. Their daughter Carmen Luisa was born in the
same year. Parra continued performing: she appeared in circuses and toured, with Hilda and with
her children, throughout Argentina.
The folklorist[edit]
In 1952, Parra's second daughter, Rosita Clara, was born. In that same year, driven by her brother
Nicanor, Violeta began to collect and collate authentic Chilean folk music from all over the country.
She abandoned her old repertoire for folk songs, and began composing her own songs based on
traditional folk forms.
She gave recitals at universities, presented by Enrique Bello Cruz, a founder of cultural magazines.
Soon, Parra was invited to the "Summer School" at the University of Concepcin. She was also
invited to teach courses in folklore at the University of Iquique. In Valparaiso, she was presented at
the Chilean-French Institute.
Parra's two singles for EMI-Odeon label: "Que Pena Siente el Alma" and "Verso por el Fin del
Mundo", and "Casamiento de Negros" and "Verso por Padecimiento" brought her a good measure of
popularity.
Don Isaiah Angulo, a tenant farmer, taught her to play the guitarrn, a traditional Chilean guitar-like
instrument with 25 strings.
Along the way, Parra met Pablo Neruda, who introduced her to his friends. In 1970, he would
dedicate the poem "Elegia para Cantar" to her.
Between January and September 1954, Parra hosted the immensely successful radio program "Sing
Violeta Parra" for Radio Chilena. The program was most often recorded in places where folk music
was performed, such as her mother's restaurant in Barrancas. At the end of 1954, Parra participated
in another folkloric programme, for Radio Agriculture.
First journey to Europe and prime[edit]
Violeta was invited to the World Festival of Youth and Students, in Warsaw, Poland, in July 1955.
She then moved to Paris, France, where she performed at the nightclub "L'Escale" in the Quartier
Latin. Meanwhile, back in Santiago her daughter Rosita Clara died.
Violeta made contacts with European artists and intellectuals. Through the intervention of the
anthropologist Paul Rivet she recorded at the National Sound Archive of the "Muse de l'Homme" La
Sorbonne in Paris, where she left a guitarrn and tapes of her collections of Chilean folklore. She
travelled to London to make recordings for EMI-Odeon and radio broadcasts from the BBC. Back in
Paris, in March 1956, she recorded 16 songs for the French label "Chant du Monde" which launches
its first two records with 8 songs each.
In November 1956, Violeta returned to Chile, and recorded the first LP of the series "The folklore of
Chile" for the EMI Odeon label: "Violeta Parra and her guitar" which included three of her own
compositions. In 1957 she followed with "La cueca" and "La tonada" (EMI Oden)and
"Composiciones de Violeta Parra".
In the following years she built her house Casa de Palos on Segovia Street, in the municipality of
La Reina. She continued giving recitals in major cultural centers in Santiago, travelling all over the
country to research, organize concerts and give lectures and workshops about folklore. She travelled
north to investigate and record the pagan religious festival "La Tirana".
Violeta Parra exerted a significant influence on Hctor Pavez and Gabriela Pizarro, who would
become great performers and researchers in their own right. The product of this collaboration is
evident in the play "La Celebracin de la Minga" staged at the Teatro Municipal de Santiago.
She composed the music for the documentaries Wicker and Trilla, and contributed to the
film Casamiento de negros, performed by Sergio Bravo.
She wrote the book "Cantos Folklricos Chilean" which gathered all the research conducted so far,
with photographs by Sergio Larran and musical scores performed by Soublette Gaston (Santiago,
Nascimento, 1979). She also wrote the "Dcimas autobiogrficas", work in verse recounting her
from her childhood to her trip to Europe.
She started a serious interest in ceramics, painting and arpillera embroidery As a result of a severe
hepatitis in 1959 that forced her to stay in bed, her work as a painter and arpillerista was developed
greatly, so much so that the same year she exhibited her oil paintings and arpilleras at the First and
also the Second Outdoor Exhibition of Fine Arts of the Forest Park. On 4 October 1960, the day of
her birthday, she met Swiss flautist Gilbert Favre with whom she became romantically involved. In
1961 she traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she exhibited her paintings, appearing in TV,
giving recitals at the Teatro IFT and recording an album of original songs for EMI Odeon - which was
banned.
Second European voyage: Affair with Gilbert Favre [edit]
In June 1962 she returned to Santiago. With her children Isabel and Angel, and her granddaughter
Tita, she embarked, with the Chilean delegation, for Finland to participate in the 8th "World Festival
of Youth and Students" held in Helsinki. After touring the Soviet Union, Germany, Italy and France,
Violeta Parra moved to Paris, where she performed at La Candelaria and L'Escale, in the Latin
Quarter, gave recitals at the "Thtre Des Nations" of UNESCO and performed on radio and
television with her children. Then she started living with Gilbert Favre in Geneva, dividing her time
between France and Switzerland, where she also gave concerts, appeared in TV and exhibited her
art.
In 1963 she recorded in Paris, revolutionary and peasant songs, which would be published in 1971
under the title "Songs rediscovered in Paris" She wrote the book "Popular Poetry of the Andes". The
Parras took part in the concert of "L'Humanit" (official newspaper of the French Communist Party).
An Argentine musician friend recorded at her home a version of "El Gaviln" ("The
Hawk"),interpreted by Violeta Parra accompanied by her granddaughter on percussion. Violeta
accompanied her children in the LP "Los Parra de Chilln" for the Barclay label. She began playing
the cuatro, an instrument of Venezuelan origin, and the charango, an instrument of the high
plateaus.
In April 1964 she did an exhibition of her arpilleras, oil paintings and wire sculptures in the Museum
of Decorative Arts of the Louvre - the first solo exhibition of a Latin American artist at the museum. In
1965, the publisher Franois Maspero, Paris, published her book "Posie Populaire des Andes". In
Geneva, Swiss television made a documentary about the artist and her work, "Violeta Parra, Chilean
Embroiderer".
Return to South America[edit]
Favre and Parra returned to South America, in June 1965. Violeta recorded two 45s, one with her
daughter Isabel and another to instrumental music for cuatro and quena with Gilbert Favre, whom
she christened "El Tocador Afuerino" (The outsider musician) Her music now incorporated the
Venezuelan cuatro and the charango from the plateaus of the northern. The EMI Odeon circulated
the LP "Remembering Chile (a Chilean in Paris)," whose cover was illustrated with her own
arpilleras. However, Favre and Parra broke up, provoked by his desire to live in Bolivia where he
was part of a successful Bolivian music act, Los Jairas.
Parras energy was invested in reviving a unique version of the Pea (now known as La Pea de
Los Parra), a community center for the arts and for political activism. Some have stated she
established the first 'pea', but as said by the RAE, places such as these had been called that at
least since 1936.
Parras Pea was a tent (somewhat similar looking to a circus tent) that she set up on a 30 x 30
meter piece of land in the Parque La Quintrala, at number 340 Carmen Street, in todays La Reina
municipality of Santiago, in the area once known as la Caada. Her tent hosted musical spectacles
where she often sang with her children, and she and her children also lived on the same land. [4] In La
Reina, at La Caada 7200, she also established a cultural center called "La Carpa de la Reina"
inaugurated on 17 December 1965. She also installed a folk pea in the International Fair of
Santiago (FISA), where she was invited. On the same year, she participated in numerous national
television programs and signed a contract with Radio Minera which would be the last radio station to
be used as a platform for her work.
Under the EMi Oden label, in 1966 was released the LP "La Carpa de La Reina" featuring three
songs performed by Violeta Parra and nine by guest artists announced at the carpa by Violeta
herself. She travelled to La Paz, Bolivia, to meet with Gilbert Favre, where she regularly appeared in
the Pea. She came back to Chile with Altiplano groups, presenting them in her carpa, on television
and in her children's Pea. She also performed in concert at the Chilean southern cities
of Osorno and Punta Arenas, invited by Ren Largo Farias, under the "Chile Re y Canta" ("Chile
Laughs and Sings") program. Accompanied by her children and Uruguayan Alberto Zapicn, she
recorded for RCA Victor the LP "The Last Compositions of Violeta Parra". In that year, Favre
returned briefly to Chile with his group, but declined to stay, because in the meantime he had
established a life and married in Bolivia.
"Gracias a la Vida"[edit]
Her most renowned song, Gracias a la Vida ("Thanks to Life"), was popularized throughout Latin
America by Mercedes Sosa, in Brazil by Elis Regina and later in the US by Joan Baez. It remains
one of the most covered Latin American songs in history. Other notable covers of this tragic, but
widely beloved, folk anthem include the Italian guitar-vocal solo of Adriana Mezzadri and La Oreja de
Van Gogh at the 2005 Via del Mar International Song Festival.[5]
It has been treated by classically trained musicians such as in the fully orchestrated rendition by
conservatory-trained Alberto Cortez.[6]
The song has been re-recorded by several Latin artists and Canadian Michael Bubl to gather funds
for the Chilean people affected by the earthquake in Chile, February 2010. [7]
It opens with a very common shift between A minor and E major chords, then it goes to G7-C/C7
before returning to the Am/E motif.[8][9]
"Gracias a la vida" was written and recorded in 1964-65[10] following Parra's separation with her long-
time partner. It was released in Las ltimas Composiciones (1966), the last album Parra published
before taking her life in 1967.[11]
Parra's lyrics are ambiguous at first: the song may be read as a romantic celebration of life and
individual experience,[12] however the circumstances surrounding the song suggest that Parra also
intended the song as a sort of suicide note, thanking life for all it has given her. It may even be read
as ironic, pointing out that a life full of good health, opportunity and worldly experience may not offer
any consolation to grief and the contradictory nature of the human condition. [13]
Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto
Me dio dos luceros que cuando los abro
Perfecto distingo lo negro del blanco
Y en el alto cielo su fondo estrellado
Y en las multitudes el hombre que yo amo
Translated into English:
Thanks to life, which has given me so much
It gave me two bright stars that when I open them,
I perfectly distinguish the black from white
And in the sky above, her starry backdrop
And within the multitudes the man I love
"Volver a los
Diecisiete"[edit]
Another highly regarded
original, the last song she
wrote, "Volver a los Diecisiete"
("Being Seventeen Again")
similarly celebrates the
themes of youthful life, in
tragic contrast to her
biography.[14] Unlike much
popular music, it moves
through minor key progression
creating an introspective if not
melancholy mood and thus
has lent itself to classical
treatment[15] as well as popular
music.
Despite its originality, Parra's
music was deeply rooted in
folk song traditions, as is the
case with Nueva Cancin in
general.[15]
Death and legacy[edit]
Parra died by suicide in
1967[16] by a gunshot to the
head.[17] Several memorials
were held after her death, both
in Chile and abroad. She was
an inspiration for several Latin-
American artists, such
as Victor Jara and the musical
movement of the "Nueva
Cancion Chilena", which
renewed interest in Chilean
folklore.
In 1992, the Violeta Parra
Foundation was founded at
the initiative of her children,
with the aim to group, organize
and disseminate her still-
unpublished work.
In 1997, with the participation
of Violeta Parra Foundation
and the Department of Cultural
Affairs, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Chile, her visual work
was exhibited in the Museum
of Decorative Arts of the
Louvre Museum, Paris.
In 2007, the 90th anniversary
of her birth was
commemorated with an
exhibition of her visual work at
the Centro Cultural Palacio La
Moneda and the release of a
collection of her art work titled,
"Visual Work of Violeta Parra".

Biopic[edit]
Violeta Went to
Heaven[18] (Spanish: Violeta se
fue a los cielos) is a 2011
Chilean biopic about singer
and folklorist Violeta Parra,
directed by Andrs Wood. The
film is based on an
eponymous book, a biography,
written by ngel Parra,
Violeta's son with Luis
Cereceda Arenas. Parra
collaborated on the film, The
film was selected as
the Chilean entry for the Best
Foreign Language Film at the
84th Academy Awards, but it
did not make the final shortlist.

Discography[edit]
Studio albums[edit]

Chants et danses du chili

Vol. 1 (1956)
 Chants et danses du chili.
Vol. 2 (1956)

Violeta Parra, Canto y

guitarra. El Folklore de
Chile, Vol. I (1956)

Violeta Parra,
acompaada de guitarra.
El Folklore de Chile, Vol.
II (1958)

La cueca presentada por

Violeta Parra: El Folklore
de Chile, Vol. III. (1958)

La tonada presentada por

Violeta Parra: El Folklore
de Chile, Vol. IV. (1958)

Toda Violeta Parra: El

Folklore de Chile, Vol.
VIII (1960)

Violeta Parra, guitare et

chant: Chants et danses
du Chili. (1963)

Recordandeo a Chile
(Una Chilena en
Pars). (1965)

Carpa de la Reina (1966)

Las ltimas
composiciones de Violeta
Parra (1967)
Posthumous
discography[edit]

Violeta Parra y sus

canciones reencontradas
en Pars (1971)

Canciones de Violeta
Parra (1971)

Le Chili de Violeta
Parra (1974)
 Un ro de sangre (1975)

Presente / Ausente (1975)

Dcimas (1976)

Chants & rythmes du

Chili (1991)

El hombre con su
razn (1992)

Dcimas y
Centsimas (1993)

El folklore y la
pasin (1994)

Haciendo Historia: La
jardinera y su
canto (1997)

Violeta Parra:
Antologa (1998)

Canciones reencontradas
en Pars (1999)

Composiciones para
guitarra (1999)

Violeta Parra - En
Ginebra, En Vivo,
1965 (1999)

Violeta Parra: Cantos

Campesinos (1999)

Further reading[edit]
In 1942, Violeta Parra won first
prize in Santiago, for singing
Spanish songs with her sister
Martha. Among his favorite
folk songs they are also
highlighted farucas,
pasodobles, Peruvian waltzes,
tunes, among others,
traditional folk styles
 Alcalde, Alfonso: Toda
Violeta Parra (biography
plus anthology of songs
and poems) Ediciones de
la Flor. Buenos Aires 1974

Escobar, A., 2012. Violeta

Parra, una aproximacin a
la creacin
interdisciplinaria. Master
Thesis. Universitat de
Barcelona: Spain. URL:
<http://diposit.ub.edu/dspa
ce/handle/2445/33027>
(accessed: 11 August
2014)

Kerschen, Karen. Violeta

Parra: By the Whim of the
Wind. Albuquerque, NM:
ABQ Press, 2010.

MANNS, Patricio. Violeta

Parra. Madrid: Jcar,
1978; 2 ed. 1984

PARRA, ngel. Violeta se

fue a los cielos. Santiago
de Chile: Catalonia, 2006

PARRA, Eduardo. Mi
hermana Violeta Parra. Su
vida y su obra en
dcimas. Santiago de
Chile: LOM Ediciones,
1998.

PARRA, Isabel. El libro

mayor de Violeta Parra.
Madrid: Michay, 1985.

PARRA, Violeta. Violeta

Parra, Composiciones
para guitarra. Eds.
CONCHA, Olivia;

Moreno, Albrecht: "Violeta

Parra and 'La Nueva
Cancin Chilena." Studies
in Latin American Popular
Culture 5 (1986): 10826.
 SUBERCASEAUX,
Bernardo y LONDOO,
Jaime. Gracias A La Vida.
Violeta Parra, testimonio.
Buenos Aires: Galerna,
1976

References[edit]
1. Jump
up^ http://diposit.ub.edu/
dspace/handle/2445/330
27

2. Jump
up^ http://interbrigadas.
org/en/brigades_previou
s_violeta_biography.htm

3. Jump
up^ https://www.academ
ia.edu/4533984/La_Pol
%C3%ADtica_en_la_m
%C3%BAsica_de_Violet
a_Parra

4. Jump up^ Violeta Went

to Heaven

5. Jump up^ "La Oreja de

Van Gogh - La playa &
Gracias a la vida".
YouTube. 2006-07-17.
Retrieved 2012-03-05.

6. Jump up^ "Alberto

Cortz". YouTube.
Retrieved 2012-03-05.

7. Jump up^ "Gracias a la

vida". Voces unidas por
Chile. 2010-12-31.
Retrieved 2012-03-05.

8. Jump up^ http://www.e-

chords.com/chords/violet
a-parra/gracias-a-la-vida

9. Jump up^ "Joan Baez -

Gracias A La Vida
Lyrics". Metrolyrics.com.
Retrieved 2012-03-05.
 10. Jump up^ "Cancionero
de Violeta Parra".
Fundacin Violeta Parra.
2008-12-31.
Retrieved 2014-09-04.

11. Jump
up^ http://www.last.fm/m
usic/Violeta+Parra/_/Gra
cias+a+la+vida

12. Jump
up^ http://www.britannic
a.com/blogs/2012/02/viol
eta-parra-gracias-la-
vida-great-moments-
pop-music-history/

13. Jump
up^ https://medium.com/
@RandyO/such-a-
lovely-suicide-note-
2be7ba019411

14. Jump
up^ http://www.musica.c
om/letras.asp?
letra=1172800

15. ^ Jump up to:a b "Violeta

Parra Volver A Los 17
Video, Musik hren &
Statistiken bei Last.fm".
Lastfm.de.
Retrieved 2012-03-05.

16. Jump up^ Mena,

Rosario. "Eduardo
Parra: My Sister Violetta
Parra". Nuestro.cl.
Retrieved 6
September 2012.

17. Jump up^ Discogs

18. Jump
up^ https://www.academ
ia.edu/4518558/Violeta_
se_Fue_a_los_cielos_-
_Alejandro_Escobar_Mu
ndaca

External links[edit]
 Official site of the Violeta
Parra Foundation

Discography and lyrics

Discography

Issac 2001 Triptych

version of Gracias A la
Vida

Violeta Parra at Find a

Grave

WorldCat Identities

VIAF: 98832002

LCCN: n79077233

ISNI: 0000 0000 8169 2678

GND: 118789732

l SUDOC: 028866266

BNF: cb134789395 (data)

MusicBrainz: bb92cd9f-0446-42bb-adc7-b6f7c5bea2e3

NDL: 00472764

BNE: XX1061145

RKD: 316132
Categories:
Parra family
1917 births
1967 deaths
Chilean communists
Chilean folk singers
Chilean female singers
Chilean singer-songwriters
Singers who committed
suicide
Nueva cancin musicians
Suicides by firearm in Chile
Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame
inductees
20th-century singers
Female suicides
 Chilean folklorists
Latin music songwriters
Chilean autobiographers

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