To start the year, the American edition of the famous Rolling Stone magazine has published a list of The 200 best singers in historycovering all musical styles. The big surprise is that it includes an Argentinian: the big Mercedes Sosaa more than deserved but absolutely unexpected recognition.
The first time they made such a note was in 2008, when they chose 100 figures through a voting system that included journalists and musicians. The result has a marked heft of classic rock and pop artists from the 60s and 70s.
This new list includes names from other styles, including Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar, who appears right between Amy Winehouse and Johnny Cash. Or even Celia Cruz, located between Prince and Marvin Gaye.
An important clarification is that it is The Best Singers and not The Best Voices, which allows Ozzy Osbourne to enter at number 112, for example.
The idea was to look for original and emotional voices, whether they were the most perfect like Mariah Carey, the harsh like Toots Hibbert, gentle like Willie Nelson, sumptuous like D’Angelo or phenomenal like Bob Dylan.
What Rolling Stone said
The original text of the publication, at position 160, says the following:
“A native of the province of Tucumán, Mercedes Sosa embodied the idealism of leftist politics, which she expressed as a leader of the “New Song” movement through a rich repertoire of folkloric songs and militant protests. Her delicate voice, always tender but even anchored in an incorruptible value, he transformed the ode Thanks to life by Violeta Parra in an intimate hymn”.
She continues: “Censored in her own country and forced into exile during the Argentine dictatorship of the 1970s. Mercedes has become an international figure, shining live like a South American Pacha Mama. Her last album before her death in 2009, singershowed her singing duets with younger stars who couldn’t believe it.”
The other singers on the list
Source: Clarin
