Cantos Cautivos
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.
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 for use with the Cantos Cautivos archive in classrooms. The booklet will be published by UNESCO in 2026.
It will be published by Oxford University Press on 19 December 2025. Authored by Katia Chornik, with a prologue by Michelle Bachelet. More information here.
On the occasion of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the coup in September 2023, members of our team were interviewed by The Guardian (United Kingdom) and Excelsior (Mexico). We invite you to read these and other media articles about Cantos Cautivos here.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cantata Our Great Mother (Cantata Nuestra Madre Grande) - Towards the Light (Hacia la luz)
Published on: 11 July 2025
Published on: 07 July 2025
The Dead Man Won't Be Pinned on Me (Ese muerto no lo cargo yo)
Published on: 02 July 2025