Joan Baez
Gracias A La Vida

The years from 1975 to 1979 were very intense and significant for Joan Baez: during this period, her talent as a singer-songwriter fully blossoms. She releases albums like the celebrated "Diamonds And Rust," but also the less remembered yet equally valid "Gulf Winds" and "Blowin' Away," in my opinion, the two most mature and personal albums in her vast discography. Before this unfortunately brief artistic phase comes this album; Joan Baez returns, as a mature artist with fifteen years of career and glory behind her, to her original role as an interpreter of traditional songs. But this time, she does so by paying homage to her Hispanic roots with an intense and heartfelt album, ideally dedicated to the Chilean people, oppressed by Augusto Pinochet's fascist dictatorship, which came to power in 1973 following a coup, with the infamous support of the great star-spangled democracy; "Gracias A La Vida" is born from Joan Baez's indignation at seeing peoples and nations akin to her used as colonial fiefs but primarily aims to convey a message of hope and comfort, wanting to better acquaint people with the culture, spirit, and musical traditions of Latin American peoples, and she succeeds in the best possible way.

The song that gives the album its title is highly emblematic; "Gracias A La Vida" is the spiritual testament of Violeta Parra, a Chilean singer who committed suicide in 1967, a year after composing it. With her intense and extraordinarily empathetic voice, even more so in this album than usual, Joan Baez pays homage to this poignant hymn to life, turning it into a genuine instant classic, one of the iconic songs in her repertoire. Less known but equally symbolic is "Te Recuerdo Amanda," a ballad that tells the love story of a factory worker, originally composed by Victor Jara, an eclectic Chilean artist and political activist tortured and killed following the 1973 coup. Songs like "Llego Con Tres Heridas," "La Llorona," and "El Preso Numero Nueve" well capture the most sorrowful yet proud essence of Latin peoples, which Joan Baez gives voice to with extraordinary effectiveness, delivering heartfelt, decisive, and vibrant interpretations, with her vibrato becoming a sharp blade. But "Gracias A La Vida" is not only about pain; this is an eclectic and universal album, expressing a variety of emotions: standards from the Latin American folk tradition such as "Guantanamera" and "Cucurrucucù Paloma" add color and brilliance, the short nursery rhyme "De Colores" evokes scenic images of simple and carefree rural life, "El Rossinyol," accompanied by the sweet sound of a flute, expresses a poignant romanticism that touches the heartstrings, also thanks to the peculiar sound of the Catalan language. In "Gracias A La Vida," there is space for two unpublished tracks by Joan Baez, "Las Madres Cansadas" is a tribute to the maternal figure understood in a universal conception, while the more famous "Dida," featuring Joni Mitchell on backing vocals, is a small pearl of sophistication, soft and ecstatic.

The best of "Gracias A La Vida," along with the title track, is found in the two concluding songs, which perhaps better represent the most intimate and true essence of this work: "No Nos Moveran" is a poem, a prayer with a choral breath, that explodes in the finale becoming a hymn of popular liberation, and finally the triumphant "Esquinazo Del Guerrillero," which is intended as a hope even before being the perfect and touching closure of the album, and gives voice to the emotions of a fighter reuniting with his beloved after winning a battle, thus embodying the message of hope that Joan Baez wanted to express with this album, a high and noble product, among the cornerstones of the folk singer's production, impeccably arranged and played, and most of all still very relevant due to the themes addressed, which refer to Latin America but could easily apply to many other parts of the world, "Gracias A La Vida" speaks of ordinary people, of life and hope for a better future, and this makes it an album of proudly popular music, of great symbolic value before even being artistic.