Cantos Cautivos

(Captive Songs)

Music was often written, sung and heard in political detention and torture centres in Chile during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

For many political prisoners, to write, play or listen to music were ways to register, process, remember, forget or transcend difficult experiences.

Music helped them to maintain a sense of normality, it was a tool to preserve dignity and hope, to have fun and communicate with other inmates and with the outside world.

The repressive system also employed music as a form of domination and indoctrination, and in connection with torture and other types of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

The memory of these experiences is an important fragment of the lives of those who resisted, fought and shared their stories for this project.

We invite you to explore these experiences.

About the project

Portrait of Manuel Flores
Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco
Watercolour by Francisco Aedo

Featured

Recent and forthcoming talks

Launch of Katia Chornik's book Music and Political Imprisonment in Pinochet's Chile, Chilean Embassy in London, 19 February 2026. Book your free seat here.
"Musique et détention politique au Chili sous la dictature de Pinochet : une cacophonie de mémoires", Paris 8 University, October 2025.
"Music and place in memories of political imprisonment in Pinochet’s Chile", BFE-Sfe Joint Conference, Senate House, October 2025.
"Behind the scenes of the Cantos Cautivos archive, documenting the music of political imprisonment during Pinochet’s Chile", annual conference of Royal Music Association, September 2025.

New media coverage

Following Chile's presidential election in December 2025, The Guardian and other media outlets in Brazil, Portugal, Spain and Austria published articles highlighting the publication of the book Music and Political Imprisonment in Pinochet's Chile and the continuous need for education about the Pinochet dictatorship. See full media coverage here.

Educational Booklet

With UNESCO's support, and as part of the Global Citizenship Education programme (GCED), we are developing a booklet with teaching guidelines and lesson plans to use the Cantos Cautivos archive in classrooms. The booklet will be published by UNESCO in 2026.

Libro Music and Political Imprisonment in Pinochet's Chile

Book: Music and Political Imprisonment in Pinochet's Chile

Published by Oxford University Press on 19 December 2025. Authored by Katia Chornik, with a prologue by Michelle Bachelet. More information here.

A flor de piel (Viña del Mar, 2022)

Carmen Espinoza and César were arrested and tortured in Colonia Dignidad in April 1975. Each had a different experience, but something united them: music. Watch an excerpt of the interview and explore other stories about Colonia Colonia Dignidad in Cantos Cautivos.

The Oxford Research Encyclopedia highlights Cantos Cautivos

An entry on digital resources by Danielle Barefoot notes that our project "serves as a sonic living-museum and offers essential content for survivors, researchers, and teachers." Read it here.

Short Video Tamo Daleko (Punta Arenas / Dawson Island, 2018)

Part of the Fragments of Memory series of the Central Univ. of Chile's Audiovisual Laboratory, this video explores the song “Tamo Daleko”, adapted and used as a symbol of resistance by political prisoners. Watch the video here and see other testimonies about “Tamo Daleko” in Cantos Cautivos.

Cantos Cautivos at the British Museum

The British Museum's exhibition I Object, Ian Hislop's search for dissent (Sept 2018-Jan 2019) included the recording of "Doctorcitos", collected by the Cantos Cautivos team.

Reconstruction of "Filistoque's Cueca", written by Víctor Canto in Chacabuco camp

Forty-four years later, the work has been reconstructed and recorded for the first time by MACOMBA, a group directed by Marcelo Coulon (Inti-Illimani) and formed in honour of the detained-disappeared Marcelo Concha Bascuñán. Listen to the recording and read the testimony here.