Carlos Mejia Godoy

Carlos Mejía Godoy (born June 27, 1943) is a Nicaraguan musician, composer and singer-songwriter and one of the main representatives of the testimonial song or new song of his country. He grew up in a family related to popular music, folklore and traditional culture, which gave him a very early relationship with the cultural and artistic world of Nicaragua. He had a close friendship with the guitarist of the Camerata Bach and Los de Palacagüina, Pedro Miranda, and with the Nicaraguan musician Silvio Linarte. Carlos and his brother Luis Enrique were pivotal in the nueva canción (new song) movement in Central America beginning in the 1970s. They were both honored with Nicaragua's highest cultural distinction, the Order of Rubén Darío. He actively participated in the Sandinista Revolution, composing a good part of the songs associated with it and spreading the cause of the fight against the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza Debayle throughout the world. After the revolutionary triumph, he was one of the main cultural promoters of the Sandinista governments. After the loss of power of the FSLN in the 1990 elections, he left the FSLN and gradually became politically distant from this party and the leadership exercised by Daniel Ortega, becoming an active participant in the 2018 protests.