Singer and songwriter Elza Soares, considered one of the greatest voices in Brazilian song, died Thursday at the age of 91 from “natural causes” in his residence in Rio de Janeiro, announced his press service Thursday evening, January 20. Marked by many personal dramas, Elza Gomes da Conceição Soares had become a symbol of resistance and courage at the end of her life.
With more than thirty records to her name over a career spanning more than 60 years, the black diva with her characteristic hoarse timbre was an icon of her country’s music and was crowned “Brazilian singer of the millennium” by the BBC in 1999. .
Born June 23, 1930 into a poor family in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Elza Soares has managed throughout her career of more than 60 years to evolve with ease in the most diverse environments, from the favela of Agua Santa, in the suburb of Rio where she grew up, to concert halls around the world.
Samba, jazz, bossa nova, and even rock suited the singer’s raspy voice. At the beginning of his career, it was even thought that this characteristic timbre was due to an anomaly. “We said that before, but nobody has an extra vocal cord, it’s crazy. She’s twisted, I think she’s twisted ’cause everything in my life started out wrong“, said the singer in an interview on a Brazilian channel in 2002.
Like her career, Elza Soares’ personal life has alternated between joy and drama. Forced by her parents to marry at 12, she had her first child the following year. At 21, she is already a widow and has given birth to seven children, only five of whom survived.
In financial difficulties, she decided in 1953 to participate in a radio musical program. When the presenter makes fun of her appearance by asking “What planet are you from?“, she answers curtly: “From the planet of hunger“. After his performance, he says: “Ladies and gentlemen, a star is born“. In 1962, during the Football World Cup in Chile, where she was invited to be the godmother of the Brazilian team, the American star Louis Armstrong was charmed by the singer and her “saxophone in the throat“.
For 17 years, she maintained a relationship that was both fusional and stormy with Garrincha, legend of Brazilian football, who died in 1983, bruised by the ravages of alcohol. Three years later, the couple’s son died at the age of 9, in a road accident. Four of the artist’s eight children have died.
Elza Soares has experienced several musical revivals. In 1984, she recorded Lingua with Caetano Veloso. In 1999, the BBC crowned her “millennial Brazilian singer“. At the opening of the Pan American Games in Rio in 2007, she was chosen to sing the Brazilian national anthem a capella.
With the release of the album A Mulher do Fim do Mundo (The woman at the end of the world) in 2015, new generations are discovering it. The record, which deals with racism, machismo and violence against women, was a resounding success and won the Latin Grammy for best Brazilian song album.
From Deus e mulher (god is a woman) released in 2018, audiences see her singing seated, following several back surgeries that reduced her mobility. But she has lost none of her energy.
The singer was also critical of the conservative wave linked to the growth of neo-Pentecostal churches, as well as of the gaping inequalities of a country still hit by serious problems of racism.
“We live in a country full of prejudice, it’s horrible. It’s my country, I love it madly. But we have practically no rights. The poor, the blacks, the women, where are their rights?“, she protested.
“I’m not afraid of death, I’m afraid of life. She’s so bad for people that I’m like, God, how can they put up with her? But you have to live, you have to have strength“, still confided the one who had become for the Brazilians a symbol of resistance and courage.