Alí Rafael Primera Rosell (31 October 1941 – 16 February 1985) was a Venezuelan musician, composer, poet, and political activist. He was born in Coro, Falcón State, Venezuela and died in Caracas. He was one of the best known representatives of Nueva canción ("new song") in Venezuela – his songs "condemning exploitation and repression, and celebrating resistance, struck a chord among a wide public," and he is popularly known in Venezuela as El Cantor del Pueblo (The People's Singer). In 2005, the government of Venezuela declared his music to be an example of the national heritage of Venezuela. Early life Alí Primera was baptized as Rafael Sebastián Primera Rosell by his parents Antonio Primera and Carmen Adela Rossell. He was known as Alí because due to the Arabic background of his grandparents. Living in poverty since childhood, Primera's father, Antonio, died when he was three. Antonio, who served as an official in Coro, died accidentally during a shooting incident that occurred when some prisoners tried to escape from the local prison in 1945. As Primera was still quite young when his father died, he travelled with his mother and two siblings through different towns on the Paraguaná Peninsula, including San José, Caja de Agua (where he graduated from elementary school), Las Piedras and finally La Vela de Coro, located near Punto Fijo. It was in this town that Primera worked a number of odd jobs, from a shoeshiner at the age of 6 to a boxer, due to the miserable conditions his family lived in. These jobs did not, however, discourage him from continuing his studies. In 1960, Primera and his family left La Vela looking for a better life and moved to Caracas, where he enrolled in the Liceo Caracas in order to complete his education. After he graduated in 1964, he enrolled at the Central University of Venezuela to study Chemistry at the Faculty of Science. While at the university, he started singing and composing music. At first, it was a just a hobby for him, but it gradually came to take up all of his time. His first songs, "Humanidad" and "No basta rezar", the latter of which was presented at the Festival of Protest Songs organized by the Universidad de los Andes in 1967, propelled him to fame. Musical career Between 1969 and 1973, Primera lived in Europe thanks to a scholarship he received in 1968