墨西哥传奇女歌手查薇拉·华葛丝去世 享年93岁

Chavela Vargas, who defied gender stereotypes* to become one of the most legendary singers in Mexico, died on Sunday at age 93.

Her friend and biographer* Maria Cortina said Vargas died at a hospital in the city of Cuernavaca, where she had been admitted for heart and respiratory* problems.

Vargas rose to fame flouting* the Roman Catholic country’s preconceptions of what it meant to be a female singer: singing lusty “ranchera” songs while wearing men’s clothes, carrying a pistol, drinking heavily and smoking cigars.

Born in San Joaquin de Flores, Costa Rica, on April 17, 1919, Vargas immigrated to Mexico at the age of 14.

“I was never afraid of anything because I never hurt anyone,” Vargas told the audience at a Mexico City tribute concert in June 2011.

Vargas recorded 80 albums, becoming a major figure in Mexico City’s artistic explosion of the mid-20th century. Along the way she was honored as a “distinguished citizen” of Mexico City and was given Spain’s Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic. In 2007 the Latin Recording Academy gave her its lifetime achievement award.

(SD-Agencies)