Nelson and Paola Sosa
For restaurants and partiesLive Latin music for restaurants, private parties, weddings and celebrations — two voices, a guitar, and a repertoire that spans every Spanish-speaking country.
Read more
Performing since 1966
Six strings, and the whole of Latin America.
Nelson Sosa is a folk guitarist, singer, composer and writer from Los Andes, Chile. He came to Chicago in 1981 and has spent every year since putting Latin American music in front of people — in restaurants, in schools, in libraries, and anywhere a song will carry.
Available for events across Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin
800,000+
People reached by the shows
- Smithsonian Folklife Festival
- Chicago World Music Festival
- Old Town School of Folk Music
- Universidad de Chile
- Urban Gateways
- Growing Together, Inc.
What Nelson does
Four ways to bring the music to you.
From a Friday night in a restaurant to a Monday morning assembly — the same songs, shaped for the room.
Educational performances
Schools, libraries, parks and collegesBilingual, participatory programs for schools, libraries, parks and colleges — built on a simple idea Nelson calls Art in Education.
Read moreNelson Sosa's books
Written for the classroomFour books: a reference to Latin American music, a story book, songs for pre-schoolers, and a collection of poems.
Read moreMusic classes
Guitar and voiceGuitar and vocal technique, taught by someone who studied music at the Universidad de Chile and spent fifteen years teaching at the Old Town School of Folk Music.
Read more
The story
From Los Andes to Chicago
Nelson Sosa was born in Los Andes, Chile, studied music at the Universidad de Chile, and had been performing for fifteen years before he ever saw Chicago. He arrived in 1981 and went to work with the city's bilingual and Spanish-speaking communities almost immediately.
What he built there was unusual: a performing career and a teaching career that feed each other. The same songs that fill a restaurant on a Saturday night are the ones he takes into a school on Monday morning — and the ones he wrote down, in four books, so the teacher could keep going without him.
Along the way: fifteen years teaching guitar at the Old Town School of Folk Music, a set at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, keynote talks at educational conferences, and shows seen by more than 800,000 people. He is still playing.
A working life in music
Sixty years, briefly.
-
1966
Begins performing in Chile.
-
Santiago
Studies music at the Universidad de Chile — Coro Polifónico, and the Ballet Folklórico Experimental Loncurahue.
-
1981
Arrives in Chicago, and begins working with the city's bilingual and Spanish-speaking communities.
-
1996
Begins performing as a duo with his daughter Paola.
-
2006
Presents the educational shows at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C.
-
Today
Four books in print, more than 800,000 people reached by the shows, and still playing.