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

Music and political imprisonment in Pinochet’s Chile. VOX-POP, Amsterdam, 10 April 2026, 15:30-17:00. Organised by the University of Amsterdam. Info here
In conversation with the Harvard Global Development Practice Student Society, 9 March 2026, online, 6:00-7:00 PM ET. Join here.
Book launch: Music and Political Imprisonment in Pinochet's Chile. University of Cambridge, Centre of Latin American Studies, 16 March 2026. Info here.
Book launch: Music and Political Imprisonment in Pinochet's Chile. Chilean Embassy in London, 19 February 2026. Info here.

Launch of Music and Political Imprisonment in Pinochet's Chile (Oxford University Press) by Katia Chornik, with a prologue by Michelle Bachelet

Katia Chornik (centre) launched her book on 19 February 2026 at the Chilean Embassy in London, in conversation with Philippe Sands KC (left). Also spoke the then Chilean Ambassador Ximena Fuentes (right) and Graham Minter (Amnesty International South American Team). Book info here. Reviews in Latin American Review of Books and Contrapulso.

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.

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.