Mercedes Sosa

Mercedes Sosa, born in San Miguel de Tucumán on 9 July 1935, is one of the most acclaimed voices in Argentine folk music and in Latin American music more broadly. Her career is key to understanding how the country's popular song moved from regional tradition to explicit social commitment.

In the 1960s she moved to the province of Mendoza, where, together with her husband Oscar Matus, she championed the Nuevo Cancionero, a folk movement that aimed to give voice to the humblest Argentines. In 1965 she was invited to the Cosquín Festival, the most important folk event in the country, and her popularity grew rapidly while she recorded with some of the most significant musicians of the era. She was the leading figure in two ambitious projects of the 1960s and 1970s, Mujeres Argentinas and Cantata Sudamericana, and her career then extended internationally, with performances on the world's major stages and numerous awards.

In 1978 the Argentine military dictatorship forced her to leave the country. After her return in 1982, she broadened her repertoire towards rock nacional, a genre that young musicians had developed during the dictatorship as a form of resistance. She collaborated with leading rock musicians, bringing together different audiences and styles. Her international career remains highly successful and popular.