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Joan Baez - Gracias a la Vida Audio CD

A fair review of the Joan Baez "Gracias a la Vida" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Joan Baez reviews here, or go back to the Joan Baez tabs.

Joan Baez Band: Joan Baez
Title: Gracias a la Vida
Rating:
Release Date: 1994-03-02
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Gracias a la Vida 2: Llego con Tres Heridas 3: Llorona 4: Preso Numero Nueve 5: Guantanamera 6: Te Recuerdo Amanda 7: Dida 8: Cucurrucucu Paloma 9: Paso Rio 10: Rossinyol 11: De Colores 12: Madres Cansadas (All the Weary Mothers of the Earth/People's Union No. 13: No Nos Moveran 14: Esquinazo del Guerrillero

Gracias Joan, Gracias Amazon for having this super album.
Her Spanish album was thrilling when it was released. Joan Baez at her best - standing up for those without words. I would hope that it will be re-released for this generation to enjoy.


Joan does Spanish Folk
I love Joan's music. I must say is there anything Joan can't do with that Soprano voice of hers? I really like the title song because Joan sings it like she means it and it touches you. .


Different Baez

For example,young Linda Ronstadt loved this album because it was the first time that some really big name recorded music she knew as a child. This beautiful album is little forgotten now althought every now and than I met people who recognise it and get all excited - for many this was first introduction to music of South America and they learned songs because of Baez.
There is probably a story behind this album but I don't really know details - Baez appears to be completely uninterested to ever became mainstream pop singer and althought she had big hit with single "The night they drove old Dixie down" in early 1970s,she didn't continue that road and focused on anti-war protests and such,visited Vietnam,was arrested more than once and used her high public profile to help victims of political prosecution.
This album was recorded as her own answer on what was happening in South America,people disappearing in prisons,late-night arrests and problems with immigrants - she selected her favourite South American songs (some of them revolutionary) and recorded them as her own way of saying "I am with you,you are not alone".
Even if you don't know the whole story,the album works as really enjoyable piece of "world music" - instrumental backing is pleasant and relatively authentic for its time,Baez vocals enthusiastic and even Joni Mitchell pops in for visit in wordless "Dida" where two sirens harmonize and Baez was so happy with result that she re-mixed that song for her next album "Diamonds and Rust" that marked her big return to pop charts and probably highest peak of her popularity ever.


A Splendid Collection of Folk Songs in Spanish!


Joan had seen the world in all its glory and tragedy. After many years using her splendid soprano voice to sing and record traditional and modern folksongs of the British Isles and the USA, and after traveling the world, singing to and for some of its most vulnerable peoples, Joan released this beautiful album of folk songs from Latin America, sung mostly in Spanish, with one song in Portuguese. She had worked tirelessly for peace in Vietnam, Ireland and other seemingly hopeless conflicts, standing up for humanity's greatest potential while viewing up close some of its greatest horrors and injustices. She marched with Martin and Cesar, sang to mothers who'd lost their children and wives whose husbands had been 'disappeared' by the juntas, and through it all she absorbed the cultures and music of the people she met, and the friends she made.

No doubt her father's Mexican heritage influenced her attraction to some of the songs on 'Gracias a la Vida', as well as her time with Cesar Chavez and traveling through the countries of South and Central America. After talking to the poets, artists and activists whose very words, in some circumstances, could bring about their arrest, imprisonment or worse, she put together this powerfully beautiful and ultimately transcendent collection of songs and poems set to music.

The words (which can be found by searching "baez gracias a la vida lyrics"), the melodies and the rhythms on this CD combine with Ms Baez' voice to provide a musical landscape that includes joyful celebration, thoughtful observations, loving tribute and painful, tragic loss. It is a CD to be treasured and listened to again and again!.


Superba!
Not only that, but Joan's vocals and her love for these songs comes through beautifully on this CD. This album brought some well-deserved attention to a genre of music that was largely ignored in the 70's by mainstream artists in the USA. . . Enjoy!.


You can see a complete list of all Joan Baez discography, or go back to the Joan Baez tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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