Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval (October 14, 1917 - February 5, 1967) was a notable Chilean folklorist. She set the basis for "The New Song" (La Nueva Canción chilena), a renewal of Chilean folk music.
Parra was born in San Carlos , province of Ñuble, a small town in southern Chile. She was involved in the leftist movement and the Chilean Socialist Party. She established the first Peña, (now: la Peña de los Parras). A peña meaning a hard rock and being a community cultural and political center. There are now many peñas throughout Chile, Latin America, and in North America, Europe, and Australia (From the expat communities that fled the CIA-backed Augusto Pinochet coup d'état that overthrew Salvador Allende's democratically elected socialist administration). She is a member of the prolific Parra family. Another important figure in the family is her son Ángel Parra.
She committed suicide at the age of fifty.
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