Gracias a la Vida | |
Type: | Album |
Artist: | Joan Baez |
Cover: | GraciasBaez.jpg |
Released: | April 1974 |
Recorded: | Early 1974 |
Studio: | A&M (Hollywood) |
Genre: | Latin, folk |
Length: | 43:18 |
Label: | A&M |
Producer: | Joan Baez, Henry Lewy |
Prev Title: | Where Are You Now, My Son? |
Prev Year: | 1973 |
Next Title: | Diamonds & Rust |
Next Year: | 1975 |
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 (and seventeenth overall) by American singer-songwriter Joan Baez, released in 1974. It was performed mainly in Spanish, with one song in Catalan.
Baez stated at the time that she released the album as a "message of hope to the Chileans suffering under Augusto Pinochet", in the wake of the death of Salvador Allende. (Baez is known for her criticism of US foreign policy in Latin America, and has toured and worked on behalf of improving human rights in the region). Songs include selections by Chilean composers Víctor Jara (who was tortured and killed in the aftermath of the 1973 coup d'état) and Violeta Parra, 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."