Chavela Vargas: A Controversial Musical Icon

Emilie Pons

November 30, 2017

moderator: Laura Barberan

My talk will discuss the current biographical work I started on ranchera singer Chavela Vargas in the Spring of 2016. Vargas is known for her uncompromising personality as well as extraordinary musical skills whose uniqueness Pedro Almodovar keeps paying tribute to by using Vargas’s voice and interpretations in most of his films. My book and talk will attempt to place Vargas in the cultural and artistic context of Mexico, Latin America and Spain through her career, music, friendships (Vargas was friends with Frida Khalo and Diego Rivera), and personality. It’s the story of how a woman born in a small Costa Rican village can become a legend as known as “la Llorona,” which was one of her most famous and beloved interpretations. Chavela’s accomplishments are inspirational: Her ability to overcome poverty and become a successful immigrant in Mexico, where “people adored her,” as her friend sculptor and musician Mario Avila explains; to overcome alcoholism; to understand and cultivate her talent without ever going to music school; to thrive as a lesbian artist in a chauvinistic and macho environment. I would like my research and interviews to become a book but I do not have a contract yet. I have however published two articles on Vargas, one in French, in 2016, and one in English, this year.

Pons recently published an article on Chavela, a documentary on Chavela Vargas. For the last two year, she has also been writing the latin jazz column of the East Coast jazz magazine Hot House, and she started writing for the New York jazz publication the New York City Jazz Record in August 2017. She wrote the September cover story of the magazine, which featured 93-year-old Sun Ra band leader Marshall Allen. She teaches one English composition course as well as a Latino Literature course.