¡Viva La Música!

Can’t believe I missed the Latin Grammy’s this week!



Happy weekend, all!

RIP, Facundo Cabral

A great tragedy today, in the Latin American world:

Argentine singer Facundo Cabral, a legend of Latin American folk music, has been shot dead in Guatemala City when unidentified gunmen riddled his car with bullets, authorities said.

Cabral, 74, and his driver were killed in the Guatemalan capital on their way to the airport at around 5am on Saturday, and at least one other person was seriously injured in the attack, police said. The shooting happened after Cabral finished performing a musical tour in the central American country.

"The vehicle was hit by 18 bullets," said Juan Manuel, a spokesman for Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom. Colom said he spoke to Argentine President Cristina Fernandez to express his condolences.

Argentine television stations interrupted their broadcasts with news of Cabral's death.

A firefighter at the scene said colleagues saw black vehicles pull up and open fire on Cabral's white Range Rover and the beige Chevrolet Tahoe accompanying the singer.

However, the motive for the shooting was not clear, authorities said.

Guatemala, one of the poorest countries in the region, has one of Latin America's highest murder rates.

Cabral rose to fame in the 1970’s as a protest singer, and was best known for his song "No Soy de Aquí ni Soy de Allá" (I'm Not From Here, Nor Am I From There). He was nearly blind, and as a young man lost his wife and infant daughter in a plane crash. He spent time in exile in Mexico during Argentina’s military dictatorship of the late 1970’s - early 1980’s.



Argentina's Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman (son of the famous Argentine journalist/author Jacobo Timerman, both persecuted and honored for confronting the atrocities of the Argentine military regime's Dirty War) paid tribute to Cabral on his Twitter account.

"The murder of Facundo Cabral in Guatemala brings us great sadness," he wrote. "Adiós amigo!"

Telenovelas

I know telenovelas are a big deal in Latin America.  I have been known to watch them once in awhile, to great amusement.  The representations can be quite telling.  But this, is ridiculous.  On more than one level.