Amalia Mendoza García (10 July 1923 – 11 June 2001), nicknamed ''La Tariácuri'', was a Mexican

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

and

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. "Échame a mi la culpa" and "Amarga navidad" were some of her greatest hits. Her best friend since her youth was Martha de Miranda Jiménez, "Martuquia" as she called her, who was her companion for many years when Amalia was on tour.

Career

Tariácuri, from whom Mendoza received her nickname, was an Indigenous leader of the Purépecha people, who inhabited present-day

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...

. The nickname was used before in her brothers' musical group (Trío Tariácuri) and in her own duo (Las Tariacuritas) with her sister, Perla. She gained notice as a solo singer when she began to sing for the XEW radio station in 1954. She recorded 36 albums. In 1962, she won the Macuilxóchitl Award for best female

bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It h ...

singer of ranchera music (''bolerista de ranchero''). Through the majority of her career she was accompanied by the

Mariachi Mariachi (, , ) is a genre of regional Mexican music dating back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, two ...

Vargas de Tecalitlán, and recorded numerous rancheras and

s by José Alfredo Jiménez, Cuco Sánchez, José Ángel Espinoza, Gabriel Ruiz, and Tomás Méndez. She died four weeks and one day before her 78th birthday.

Discography

*''La Tariácuri'' (

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

, 1958) *''La Tariácuri Vol. II'' (RCA Victor, 1959) *''La Tariácuri Vol. III'' (RCA Victor, 1960) (re-issued on CD as ''Amalia Vol. 1'') *''La viuda abandonada'' (Vol. IV) (RCA Victor, 1961) (re-issued on CD as ''Mucho corazón... y otros éxitos más'') *''Boleros con Amalia Mendoza'' (RCA Victor, 1962) *''Las canciones que siempre quise grabar'' (RCA Victor, 1963) *''México en la voz de Amalia Mendoza'' (RCA Victor, 1965) *''Las tres señoras'' (1995) (with Lola Beltrán and Lucha Villa) Additionally, records in the 1970s and 1980s on Discos GAS.

With her brother Juan Mendoza

*''Dueto Tariacuri'' (

Harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

, ca. mid 1950s) *''Amalia y Juan Mendoza - Dueto Tariacuri'' ( Discos Columbia, ca. mid/late 1950s)

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendoza, Amalia Mexican film actresses 1923 births 2001 deaths Ranchera singers Golden Age of Mexican cinema Actresses from Michoacán Mexican people of Purépecha descent People from Huetamo Orfeón Records artists RCA Victor artists Singers from Michoacán 20th-century Mexican actresses 20th-century Mexican women singers Indigenous Mexican women Women in Latin music