Gracias a la vida
- For the Joan Baez album, see Gracias a la Vida (Joan Baez album).
"Gracias a la vida" (English: Thanks to life) is the name of a popular Chilean folk song composed and first performed by Chilean Violeta Parra, one of the artists who set the basis for the movement known as Nueva Canción. It was released in Las Últimas Composiciones (1966), the last album Parra published before committing suicide in 1967.
The song is one of Parra's most renowned and performed through the world, and remains as one of the most covered Latin American songs in history.
Legendary folk singer Joan Baez brought the song to the American audiences in 1974 when she included a cover of the song on her Spanish language album of the same name. It remains a concert staple of Baez's to this day.
Finnish singer Arja Saijonmaa recorded this song in both Finnish (Miten voin kyllin kiittää) and Swedish (Jag vill tacka livet). Her Swedish interpretation is one of the most well-known of her Swedish-language oeuvres.
Canadian singer/songwriter Nancy White recorded her English translation (with permission of Warner Chappell Music Argentina (SADAIC))on her 1998 Borealis cd "Gaelic Envy".
Without a doubt, however, the artist most associated with "Gracias a la vida" is the Argentine singer Mercedes Sosa. "Gracias a la vida" became something of a personal anthem for Sosa and was a constant in all of her performances up until her death.
Cover versions
- Mercedes Sosa on Homenaje a Violeta Parra (1971).
- Joan Baez on Gracias a la Vida (1974).
- Gabriella Ferri on Remedios (1974).
- Elis Regina on Falso Brilhante (1976).
- Richard Clayderman on América Latina…Mon Amour (1992).
- Yasmin Levy on La Judería - Ladino meets Flamenco (2005).
- Verónica Garay Opaso on "Así"' (2007).
- Pasión Vega on "Gracias a la vida"' (2009).
- Issac Delgado on La Formula (2000).
- Alberto Cortez on Leyendas: Alberto Cortez (2005).
- Michael Bublé on Gracias a la Vida: Voces Unidas por Chile (2010) to gather funds for the Chilean people affected by the earthquake in Chile, February 2010. http://www.vocesunidasporchile.com/
- Margareth Menezes on Naturalmente Acústico (2010).