Refalosa violeta parra biography

Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval was born in San Carlos, Ñuble, Chile on October 4, 1917, to a struggling family of twelve.

Her father, Nicanor Parra Alarcón, was a music teacher and her mother was a seamstress who taught Violeta and her siblings traditional folk songs. They lived in poverty and perambulated around the country in search of work, which led them to Santiago de Chile, Lautaro, and finally Chillán where Violeta started singing and playing the guitar. 

After her father died in 1929, her family's circumstances considerably deteriorated and Parra and her siblings were faced with finding work to put food on the table. 

The Parras performed in nightclubs in the Mapocho district, interpreting boleros, rancheras, Mexican corridos, and multiple other styles to make ends meet.

It was during one of her performances that she met Luis Cereceda, a railway driver who, years later, she would marry and ha