Italian musicians pay tribute to Chavela Vargas with book and album

Sicilian singer-songwriters Fabrizio Cammarata and Antonio Di Martino have created "Un mondo raro. Vita e incanto di Chavela Vargas," a musical and literary homage to the legendary Mexican singer who died in 2012. The project includes a biographical novel published by La Nave di Teseo (out January 19) and an album produced by Picicca Dischi, recorded between Mexico City and Palermo, available digitally on January 20 and later on vinyl. The duo translated and reinterpreted ten of Vargas's most famous songs into Italian, recording with her former guitarists Juan Carlos Allende and Miguel Peña. The book emerged from conversations with people close to Vargas, aiming to introduce her unique life to Italian audiences. Vargas had a passionate, nonconformist life marked by love, alcoholism, and solitude; she sang on the streets as a teenager, became a professional singer between the 1960s and 1970s, but only gained international recognition after age 80. She was friends with Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, with whom she had an affair, and performed "La Llorona" in Julie Taymor's 2002 film about Kahlo.