Sosa was born in Tucumán, a northwestern province of Argentina, of mestizo descent from French and Amerindian (Quechuan) ancestry. In 1950, at age fifteen, she won a singing competition organized by a local radio station and was given a contract to perform for two months.
Sosa and her first husband Manuel Oscar Matus were key players in the mid-60s nueva canción movement (which was called nuevo cancionero in Argentina). Her first record was Canciones con Fundamento (Songs with Fundament), a collection of Argentine folk songs.
In 1967, Sosa toured with great success the United States and Europe. In subsequent years, she performed and recorded extensively, broadening her repertoire to include material from throughout Latin America.
In the early 1970s, Sosa released two concept albums in collaboration with composer Ariel Ramírez and lyricist Félix Luna: Cantata Sudamericana (South American Cantata) and Mujeres Argentinas (Argentine Women). She also recorded a tribute to Chilean poet Violeta Parra.
After the military dictatorship of Jorge Videla came to power, the atmosphere in Argentina grew increasingly oppressive. At a concert in La Plata (Buenos Aires) in 1979, Sosa was searched and arrested on stage, and the attending crowd was arrested. Banned in her own country, she moved to Paris and then to Madrid.
Sosa returned to Argentina in 1982, several months before the military regime collapsed as a result of the Falklands War, and gave a series of concerts at the Opera theater in Buenos Aires, where she invited many of her younger colleagues to share the stage. A double album of recordings from these performances became an instant best seller.
In the following years, Sosa continued to tour both in Argentina and abroad, performing in such venues as the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and the Mogador in París.
Sosa's repertoire continued to broaden, and she made recordings in various styles. She collaborated frequently with Argentine musicians such as León Gieco, Charly García, Antonio Tarragó Ros, Rodolfo Mederos and Fito Páez, and other Latin American artists such as Milton Nascimento and Silvio Rodríguez.
Sosa participated in a 2001 production of the Misa Criolla by Ariel Ramírez.
Mercedes Sosa's website(in Spanish)
Pedro Canoero
Mercedes Sosa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Todo tu tiempo se ha ido
Sobre la vieja canoa
Lentamente te lo fue llevando el rio.
Pedro canoero
Ya no has vuelto por la costa
Te quedaste en la canoa
Pedro canoero
Te mecia el agua
Lejos de la costa
Cuando te dormias.
Pedro canoero
Corazon de arcilla
Sobre la canoa
Se te fue la vida.
Pedro canoero
La esperanza se te iba
Sobre el agua amanecida
Tu esperanza pedro al fin
No tuvo orillas
Pedro, pedro se te fue la vida.
The lyrics to Mercedes Sosa's song Pedro Canoero speak of a man named Pedro who spends his entire life on a canoe drifting down a river. The first stanza sets the scene, as Pedro's life has been consumed by the canoe and the river, and it is taking him slowly away. The second stanza suggests that Pedro has become one with the canoe and has not returned to the shore. He is described as a "duende," which is a Spanish word for a spirit or fairy, conveying the idea that Pedro has become part of the mystical world of the river.
In the third stanza, Pedro is shown asleep on the canoe, perhaps dreaming or finding solace in the gentle rocking of the water. The last stanzas suggest that Pedro's heart was fragile, as it was made of clay, and that he slowly drifted away from hope and life as he floated down the river. His hope, represented by the shores of the river, finally gave way and Pedro died on the canoe. Overall, the lyrics speak of a man who is completely consumed by the river and the canoe, with his life and heart drifting slowly away.
Line by Line Meaning
Pedro canoero
The singer's name and the attribute that defines him as a canoe man.
Todo tu tiempo se ha ido
Pedro's lifetime has passed away.
Sobre la vieja canoa
Pedro spent most of his life sailing the old canoe.
Lentamente te lo fue llevando el rio.
The river took his time slowly, without any hurry.
Ya no has vuelto por la costa
Pedro didn't return to the coast anymore.
Te quedaste en la canoa
He remained enveloped by the canoe's aura until the end.
Como un duende sin edad y sin memoria.
He remained like an ageless and naive ghost, limboed by time and memory.
Te mecia el agua
The water rocked the boat along with him.
Lejos de la costa
Far away from the coast, Pedro could only feel the vastness of nature.
Cuando te dormias.
The times he slept in the dimness of the night while boating.
Corazon de arcilla
Pedro's heart was fragile as clay.
Sobre la canoa
On the canoe, Pedro's feelings remained in a state of suspension.
Se te fue la vida.
His life slipped away and went together with his dreams.
La esperanza se te iba
Hope drained away from Pedro's soul.
Sobre el agua amanecida
His hope faded in the light of the dawn over the waters.
Tu esperanza pedro al fin
Pedro's hope, in the end,
No tuvo orillas
did not find the shores of contentment.
Pedro, pedro se te fue la vida.
Pedro, your life slipped away from you, and now you're gone.
Contributed by Hannah G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@marcelocarlosreynoldstorri7175
Cómo no extrañar tu hermosa voz negra querida, tu recuerdo vivirá en cada persona que ama tu música.
@nahuilamaya7932
Grande Mercedes inigualable la voz 👏🏿
@samiridraff1546
es verdad ! que voz increible !
@ARRUINAGUACHUM
Esta canción es una joya caída del cielo... Y un grande el video también...
@Sax4565
Alguem tem as cifras desta música? Para Violao e flauta? Eu ficaria muito feliz Adoro esta cancao :)
@omardominguez9234
Que hermosa letra por dios
@antonellamola1554
Questa canzone è semplicemente stupenda..ti ruba l'anima!
@javiermec1339
El disco también contiene versión de estudio de zamba de los mineros, El barrio de la cruz y todo a pulmón, pero no puedo encontrarlo en internet, tampoco " El grito de la tierra"
@financiero08
Bellísima caricia de sonidos
@edgargarcia1179
Muy pocos conocen, saben o entienden la vida de un Pescador de río. Es muy sacrificada. Muy cansadora. Arriesgada. Y muchas veces miserable
Las mayoría de los pescadores días y días en el río e isla para sacar algo con el cual vender y/o alimentar a sus familias.
Muchos han ido al río y también muchos han perdido la vida en el río tratando de sacar peses para alimentar a sus familias.
Esa es la realidad