Chavela Vargas

Chavela Vargas is a popular Mexican singer. If you haven't yet heard hear music, it's time for you to do so now. Even though I don't know Spanish, and so don't understand the lyrics, her simple, guitar-driven songs hold me in thrall. Her voice; hoarse, nuanced, expressive, is unique. She goes from love-lorn sultry to violent growls in a second. Her phrasing is exquisitely forceful and though I have no idea what she is singing about, I have no trouble grasping the emotions of the songs.

The stories and rumors about Chavela Vargas have a hemingway-esque tinge. She is said to have had a relationship with Frida Kahlo. She hanged out with contemporary luminaries. She subversed traditional femininity. She carried a gun. She engaged in hard boozing. She jumped out of a window because of love trouble, gaining a limp. According to AfterEllen: "Now 84 years old, Vargas makes her home in Veracruz, Mexico and still retains a love for guns, keeping a Magnum in her house that she uses to warn away animals."

But all that doesn't matter. The music she made is fantastic. She sang a style of Mexican songs called ranchera that were/are usually performed by men (for women). She sang for women. The production of the songs on the records I've heard does not gloss over their toughness with smooth additional instruments, nor smooth arrangements. (I shudder when thinking about how some of Vysotsky's music is made quite unbearable due to cheesy production.) Vargas' music is raw power. Listen to the song "Macorina" and you'll probably be convinced she's a great, great musician. Her music has appeared in many films, but I would say that the brilliance of her music tends to surpass the quality of the films it appears in. She has also acted in a couple of movies, among them one Herzog film (which I haven't seen), Scream of stone.