Diamantes

The new live album, ‘Diamantes’ was originally created for a tour of South America in 2014. It combines Spanish language songs culled from the 1988 recording, ‘Diamonds and Rust in the Bullring,’ with some concert favourites and two newly recorded Portuguese songs, ‘O’Cangaceiro’ and ‘Ate Amanha/Te Ador.’ Six of the tracks O “God Is God” (penned by Steve Earle), ‘It’s All Over Now Baby Blue’ (Bob Dylan), ‘Imagine’ (John Lennon), ‘Farewell, Angelina’ (Bob Dylan), ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ (which famously Baez sang at Woodstock) and ‘The Boxer’ (Simon & Garfunkel) are recent concert recordings, previously unreleased.

The American folk singer, songwriter, musician, and activist, Joan Baez, has performed publicly for over 55 years, releasing over 30 albums. Fluent in Spanish as well as in English, she has also recorded songs in at least six other languages. She is regarded as a folk singer, although her music has diversified since the counterculture days of the 1960s and now encompasses everything from folk rock and pop to country and gospel music.

Although a songwriter herself, Baez is generally regarded as an interpreter of other people’s work, having recorded songs by the Allman Brothers Band, the Beatles, Jackson Browne, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Violeta Parra, Woody Guthrie, The Rolling Stones, Pete Seeger, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and many others. In recent years, she has found success interpreting songs of modern songwriters such as Ryan Adams, Josh Ritter, Steve Earle and Natalie Merchant. Her recordings include many topical songs and material dealing with social issues.

She performed three of the songs at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, helped to bring the songs of Bob Dylan to national prominence, and has displayed a lifelong commitment to political and social activism in the fields of nonviolence, civil rights, human rights and the environment.