Daniel Viglietti is considered one of the best-known and most committed Latin-American singer-songwriters of all time.
Born in Montevideo (Uruguay) in 1939, he studied and performed popular music when he was young, playing his own compositions and adapting texts by poets such as Federico García Lorca, César Vallejo, Nicolás Guillén and Mario Benedetti.
Viglietti was imprisoned in 1972, during Stroessner’s dictatorship, and had to go into exile in 1973, when he came out of prison. While he was in exile he toured Europe, America, Africa and Australia, denouncing the Uruguayan dictatorship, the situation of the world’s poor and the workers, and defending human rights. He could not return to Uruguay until 1984, when democracy was restored, and on arrival he gave a recital before a huge audience at the Luis Franzini stadium.
His compositions have been sung by other artists such as Víctor Jara, Isabel and Angel Parra, Soledad Bravo, Chavela Vargas and Quilapayún. Throughout his career he has also composed music for the cinema, for the theatre and has appeared on stage with writers such as Eduardo Galeano and Juan Gelman. His recordings include Hombres de nuestra tierra, Trópicos, Canciones para el hombre nuevo and A dos voces. One of his songs, Desalambrar, became a civil rights anthem in demonstrations that took place at the time.
LiberPress Song Award 2008
He received the award for his musical career and for his role as a singer-songwriter committed to denouncing dictatorship and lack of freedom in the world, especially in Latin America; for singing against repression and the deplorable social conditions in which some minorities live; and for the intensity and profound humanity of his musical work, rooted in songs by the people and about the poor.