Homosexuality doesn't hurt

We mourn the loss today of one of the most beloved performers in Mexico (and the Spanish-speaking world), Chavela Vargas.

Another exotic diva we had previously only recently discovered here at Dolores Delargo Towers, on investigating the lady and her career it seems she had a fascinating life. She was reputedly the lover of Freda Kahlo, she went from being a street singer in Mexico City in the 1950s to perform at the wedding of Elizabeth Taylor to Mike Todd, and after a decline due to excessive drinking and hard-living her career was revived in the 90s by none other than Pedro Almodóvar.

Just last year, at the age of 92, she released a new album of the poems of Federico Garcia Lorca and received standing ovations while performing on stage in a wheelchair.

From The Telegraph:

Chavela Vargas was famed for breaking Mexico’s Roman Catholic preconceptions of what it meant to be a female singer.

Singing "ranchera" songs – songs about love and lust usually performed by men – Vargas was seen drinking from a bottle of tequila, wearing men's clothes, carrying a pistol and smoking cigars.

Vargas publicly came out as a lesbian in her autobiography, You Want to Know About My Past, at the age of 81.

"Homosexuality doesn't hurt," she said. "What hurts is when you're treated like you have the plague because of it."

Chavela Vargas - La Llorona

RIP

Chavela Vargas on Wikipedia