Violeta Parra

Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval (best knows as Violeta Parra) was a Chilean composer, songwriter, folklorist, ethnomusicologist and visual artist. She set the basis for "Chilean' New Song", the Nueva canción chilena, a renewal and a reinvention of Chilean folk music which would absorb and extend its influence far beyond Chile. In 2011 Andrés Wood directed a biopic about her, titled Violeta Went to Heaven.

She was involved in the progressive movement and the Communist Party of Chile. She revived the Peña (now known as La Peña de Los Parra), a community center for the arts and for political activism.

In 1967 Violeta Parra committed suicide by a gunshot to her head. She had previously been romantically involved with Swiss flautist Gilbert Favre.

Her most renowned song, Gracias a la Vida (Thanks to Life), was popularized throughout Latin America by Mercedes Sosa, in Brazil by Elis Regina and later in the US by Joan Baez.