''Gracias a la Vida'' (subtitled ''Joan Baez canta en español''), or ''Here's to Life: Joan Baez sings in Spanish'' is the fifteenth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

(and seventeenth overall) by American singer-songwriter

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

, released in 1974. It was performed mainly in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, with one song in Catalan. Baez stated at the time that she released the album as a "message of hope to the

Chileans Chileans ( es, Chilenos) are people identified with the country of Chile, whose connection may be residential, legal, historical, ethnic, or cultural. For most Chileans, several or all of these connections exist and are collectively the source ...

suffering under

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

", in the wake of the

death of Salvador Allende On September 11, 1973, Salvador Allende, president of Chile, died from gunshot wounds during a coup d'état led by Augusto Pinochet, commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army. After decades of suspicions that Allende might have been assassinated ...

. (Baez is known for her criticism of

US foreign policy The officially stated goals of the foreign policy of the United States of America, including all the bureaus and offices in the United States Department of State, as mentioned in the ''Foreign Policy Agenda'' of the Department of State, are ...

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

, and has toured and worked on behalf of improving

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...

in the region). Songs include selections by Chilean composers

Víctor Jara Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez (; 28 September 1932 – 16 September 1973) was a Chilean teacher, theater director, poet, singer-songwriter and Communist political activist. He developed Chilean theater by directing a broad array of works, ra ...

(who was tortured and killed in the aftermath of the 1973 coup d'état) and

Violeta Parra Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval (; 4 October 1917 – 5 February 1967) was a Chilean composer, singer-songwriter, folklorist, ethnomusicologist and visual artist. She pioneered the Nueva Canción Chilena (The Chilean New Song), a renewal and ...

, who composed the title song. A more upbeat version of "Dida" appears on Baez's '' Diamonds & Rust'', released the following year. Countries represented in the track listing range from Mexico and Cuba to Chile and Spain. The album was moderately successful in the US but extremely so in Latin America. The album has a dedication: "This record is dedicated to my father who gave me my Latin name and whatever optimism about life I may claim to have."

Track listing

Gracias a la Vida "Gracias a la vida" ( Spanish for "''Thanks to life''") is a song written, composed and performed by Chilean Violeta Parra, one of the artists who was part of the movement and musical genre known as the Nueva Canción Chilena. Parra composed " ...

" (Here's to Life) (

) - 3:30 #"Llegó Con Tres Heridas" (He Came with Three Wounds) (From a poem by

Miguel Hernández Miguel Hernández Gilabert (30 October 1910 – 28 March 1942 ) was a 20th-century Spanish-language poet and playwright associated with the Generation of '27 and the Generation of '36 movements. Born and raised in a family of low resources, h ...

, musicalized by

Joan Manuel Serrat Joan Manuel Serrat i Teresa (; born 27 December 1943) is a Spanish musician, singer and composer. He is considered one of the most important figures of modern, popular music in both the Spanish and Catalan languages. Serrat's lyrical style ...

) - 2:11 #"

La Llorona ''La Llorona'' (; "The Weeping Woman" or "The Wailer") is a Hispanic-American mythical vengeful ghost who is said to roam near bodies of water mourning her children whom she drowned. Origins Early colonial times provided evidence that the lore ...

" (The Weeping Woman) (Traditional) - 3:50 #"El Preso Número Nueve" (Prisoner Number Nine) (Los Hermanos Cantoral) - 3:22 #"

Guantanamera "Guantanamera" (; Spanish: (the woman) from Guantánamo) is perhaps the best-known Cuban song and that country's most-noted patriotic song, especially when using a poem by the Cuban poet José Martí for the lyrics. The official writing credi ...

" (

Joseíto Fernández José Fernández Díaz (September 5, 1908 – October 11, 1979), commonly known as Joseíto Fernández, was a Cuban singer and songwriter. He is the writer of well-known songs, including "Elige tú, que canto yo", "Amor de madre", "Demuéstram ...

José Martí José Julián Martí Pérez (; January 28, 1853 – May 19, 1895) was a Cuban nationalist, poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in the libera ...

, adapted by

Julián Orbón Julián Orbón de Soto (August 7, 1925, Avilés, Spain – May 21, 1991, Miami, Florida was a Cuban composer who lived and composed in Spain, Cuba, Mexico, and the United States of America. Aaron Copland referred to Orbón as "Cuba's most gifte ...

) - 3:50 #"Te Recuerdo Amanda" (I Remember You Amanda) (

) - 2:35 #"Dida" (Joan Baez) - 3:35 #"

Cucurrucucú Paloma "Cucurrucucú paloma" (Spanish for ''Coo-coo dove'') is a Mexican huapango-style song written by Tomás Méndez in 1954. The title is an onomatopeic reference to the characteristic call of the mourning dove, which is evoked in the refrain. The lyr ...

" (Tomás Méndez) - 4:50 #"Paso Río" (I Pass a River) (Traditional) - 0:50 #"El Rossinyol" (The Nightingale) (Traditional Catalan song) - 3:06 #" De Colores" (In Colors) (Traditional) - 2:25 #"Las Madres Cansadas" (All the Weary Mothers of the Earth) (Joan Baez) - 3:30 #"No Nos Moverán" ( We Shall Not Be Moved) (Traditional) - 3:20 #"Esquinazo Del Guerrillero" (Guerilla Warrior's Serenade) (

Rolando Alarcón Rolando Alarcón Soto (August 5, 1929 – February 4, 1973) was a Chilean singer-songwriter and teacher, who was one of the main figures of the movement Nueva canción chilena. He was the artistic director of Cuncumén, one of the most important ...

, Fernando Alegría) - 2:40

Personnel

*Joan Baez -

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of th ...

, acoustic and

classical guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor of ...

Tommy Tedesco Thomas Joseph Tedesco (July 3, 1930 – November 10, 1997) was an American guitarist and studio musician in Los Angeles and Hollywood. He was part of the loose collective of the area's leading session musicians later popularly known as The Wrec ...

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featured ...

*Jim Hughart -

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar ...

*Lalo Lindgron -

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orch ...

* Tom Scott -

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and ree ...

, string arrangement *

Mariachi Mariachi (, , ) is a genre of regional Mexican music that dates back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, t ...

Uclatlan (4, 8) *

Rondalla The rondalla is an ensemble of stringed instruments played with the plectrum or pick and generally known as plectrum instruments. It originated in Medieval Spain, especially in the ancient Crown of Aragon: Catalonia, Aragon, Murcia, and Valencia ...

Amerindia (13) * Edgar Lustgarten -

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...

Milt Holland Milton Holland (born Milton Olshansky; February 7, 1917 – November 4, 2005) was an American drummer, percussionist, ethnomusicologist, and writer in the Los Angeles music scene. He pioneered the use of African, South American, and Indian percus ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production ...

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

(7) * Jackie Ward Singers, Sally Stevens, Andrea Willis -

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

(12)

References

*Farber, Nancy (1974). "Joan Baez: Singing of fewer causes now". ''

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the lar ...

'' 4/29/74;54-57. {{Authority control 1974 albums Joan Baez albums A&M Records albums Albums produced by Henry Lewy Albums recorded at A&M Studios