for the nine hundred and ninety other pieces. I am a go-getter and extremely persistent, and the challenge of not having access to the Spanish sources only increased my motivation. The first four years were a lonely journey as I didn’t have anyone I could share my passion with, but it changed in 2013, a year after my husband and I had moved from Denmark to Turkey.
I was on my way back from the beach when I passed by a small shop which I passed by every day. This particular day I spotted a beautiful turquoise batik dress that was hanging outside. Turquoise being my favorite color at the time, I decided to stop and try it on. Up to that time we had met only two English-speaking Turkish people, so when the lady in the shop approached me and I realized she spoke English quite well, I was surprised and overjoyed.
I was a little stunned too because she looked almost exactly like Mercedes Sosa at a young age. She was a small exotic-looking woman with long black hair and intense dark eyes. Furthermore, I immediately recognized that her essence was similar to Mercedes Sosa’s. Naturally I couldn’t help but ask her the same question I had asked everybody on my way the past four years, though I never got an affirmative answer. I asked, “Do you know Mercedes Sosa?”
Her answer made my heart jump. “Of course I know her. I love her!”
When I told her I was writing a book about Mercedes Sosa, she got excited and said she wanted to read it and even sell it in her shop. She also told me she had been working in the book industry in Turkey most of her life and was keen on translating the book into Turkish. I wasn’t finished when we met, but meeting her encouraged me to do so and get it published. It became the beginning of a very special friendship, and I believe it was life’s way to encourage me to move on with the project.
While writing this book, I reached out to Sosa’s family in Argentina in hopes of receiving some insights into her life as well as to receive their blessing on this project of documenting her life, upbringing, career in music, and the social and political environment she lived in. I am very happy that they approved of the book at a very early stage and found my psychological approach enticing.
I also engaged with some of Mercedes Sosa’s personal friends and fans and have included their stories as well. Through my connection with the Latin American people on Facebook, where I now have over 16,000 followers, I began to understand Mercedes Sosa’s deep affection towards her people. The Latin American people have become very special to me too and their love, support and encouragement has touched my heart.
I do not consider this book to be a complete biography of Mercedes Sosa—rather it is a personal profile of her. I have used my imagination in a few places to fill in some of the gaps without reducing the credibility of the overall story. These passages are listed in the addendum. Here I also explain how I used a mindful approach to get to know Mercedes well enough to write this book without having access to the Spanish sources.
Maybe you wonder why I’m making the effort to describe the political situation in South America. Through Mercedes, I developed an affection for South America and realized that the continent is much overlooked in the media outside the Spanish-speaking world. As Mercedes Sosa’s friend, the Cuban singer Pablo Milanés once said, it is not possible to tell the story of Latin America without mentioning Mercedes Sosa. I believe the opposite is true as well. It is not possible to tell about Mercedes Sosa without telling about this troubled but vibrant continent in which Mercedes invested her entire life. I refer to South America as the continent in the western hemisphere consisting of the countries and islands south of Panama. I use Latin America as a cultural entity of Spanish and Portuguese speaking nations in both Americas.
On my YouTube Channel, Mercedes Sosa – The Voice of Hope, you will find a playlist with many of the songs and episodes that I describe in the book. As you come across these songs, I encourage you to visit the channel so that you may fully appreciate what is being described.
I am excited that after almost ten years of pondering, listening, watching, researching, and writing, I can finally introduce you to this amazing woman who influenced an entire continent by using her unique talent and outstanding personality. and who turned my life around even after her death.
If you want to know more about my personal journey with Mercedes Sosa, it is included in Mercedes Sosa – The Voice of Hope, where I show you how I recovered from emotional wounds by relating to Mercedes Sosa as a mother. I believe my story as well as the scientific insights that back up my experience can be useful to anyone who finds him or herself stuck in limiting, crippling, or tormenting experiences from the past. This edition is published to mark the 10th anniversary of Mercedes Sosa’s death and contains only the biographical part of the original book.
I have written this book out of deep respect for Mercedes Sosa and everything she stands for. This is my love song to Mercedes Sosa. In her voice, life becomes a song with a scent of hope as sweet and beautiful as the flower that grows in the paths of those who looks forward. Her voice represents a woman who in turn represents dreams, ideals and love that go far beyond the border of music. Mercedes Sosa was more than song. She was the voice of hope to many. May this book extend her voice and the hope she kindled.
“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”
Denmark, October 4, 2009
“The Argentine singer and folk heroine Mercedes Sosa has died from multiple organ failure at a hospital in Buenos Aires after being admitted three weeks ago. Her career spanned over six decades and she recorded more than forty albums, performing all over the world. Sosa was the underground reference point for many Argentines during the time of dictatorship, and through her songs she gave life to the protest movement among the working class, a movement which led to the collapse of the military junta in 1983. Mercedes Sosa became famous in Europe when she was living in exile in Spain and France from 1979 to 1982. She lived to seventy-four years old.”
IT’S A SUNDAY evening and I settle to watch the news with my husband. Along with a report of Mercedes Sosa’s death, a short film clip of a beautiful lady with long, dark hair, wearing a black dress with a red Andean poncho on top comes up on the TV screen. With extraordinary passion and a voice remarkable and soulful, she sings a song, “Gracias a la Vida” (Thanks to Life). I become captivated by her authenticity and charisma, and it takes only but a short while to realize I am watching a genuine and sincere woman so pure and extraordinary that I begin to wonder why I haven’t heard of her before now. As if nothing else matters, I get up to use the internet and find out more about this lady. An enormous number of YouTube links come up. I begin to watch and listen.
In the first clip, Mercedes sings “Zamba por vos” (Zamba for You) ever so gloriously with the Argentine folklore quartet, Los Chalchaleros. Radiant and graceful as a gentle embrace Mercedes arrives onstage with a consolatory smile on her lips and a sparkle of vitality in her eyes. To unending applause she proceeds to greet the members of the group, drawing them into warm embraces. Then she turns to the crowd and with a calm demeanor, starts singing in her contralto voice—deep,
