Cantos Cautivos
Testimonies
Testimonies are sorted by witness.
Carlos Muñoz:
- Music piece by:Julio Numhauser, popularised by the band Amerindios
- Experience in:Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, 1975 - 1976
- Tags:
- « One of the most important songs in the detention centres. Impossible to count how many times we sang it. Every time someone was released from a detention camp or there was credible information that a person would be sent into exile, a gigantic chorus would sing this song, in a powerful unison. »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:Unknown. Traditional Venezuelan song. Popularised in Chile by Isabel and Ángel Parra
- Experience in:Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, 1975 - 1976
- Tags:
- « A comrade whose last name was Saavedra (if I recall correctly) sung this song passionately. This song earned him the nickname of
‘El Yopo’ (also ‘Chopo’) , as is usual in popular culture. »- [Read full testimony]
Carmen Espinoza Alegría:
- Music piece by:Julio Iglesias
- Experience in:Colonia Dignidad, April 1975
- Tags:
- « I’m from Talca. I met César, my comrade, my love, in 1971 or 1972, approximately. We were young idealists, we were members of Juventudes Comunistas, and were student leaders in our secondary schools. »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:Piotr Ilich Tchaikovski
- Experience in:Colonia Dignidad, April 1975
- Tags:
- « When we arrived at Colonia Dignidad, they threw us into a shed. I despaired, took off my hood and a guard gave me a slap so hard that I fell to the ground. This was my arrival at the Colonia. »
- [Read full testimony]
Carolina Videla:
- Music piece by:Julio Numhauser
- Experience in:Cárcel Pública de Arica, 1989-1990
- Tags:
- « My guitar accompanied me for the entire time that I was deprived of freedom. It was like a magnet. In the afternoon we would sing and play in the courtyard. »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:Miguel Bosé
- Experience in:Cárcel Pública de Arica, January 1989
- Tags:
- « I was 19 years old when they arrested me. I was one of the youngest political prisoners at the time in Arica. »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:Antônio Marcos. Popularised in Chile by Claudio Reyes
- Experience in:Cárcel Pública de Arica, January 1989
- Tags:
- « My prison term happened during the last year of the dictatorship after the No vote won. I was set free because of 'lack of evidence', after a year and a half in prison. »
- [Read full testimony]
César Montiel:
- Music piece by:Julio Iglesias
- Experience in:Colonia Dignidad, April 1975
- Tags:
- « At the beginning of the 1970s, I met Carmen, my comrade, my love, at the Juventudes Comunistas of Talca. We had the life of young idealists, sharing our everyday, living this revolutionary process so beautifully. »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:Piotr Ilich Tchaikovski
- Experience in:Colonia Dignidad, April 1975
- Tags:
- « In Colonia Dignidad, they played Swan Lake by
Tchaikovsky a lot. It was very repetitive. To several comrades, it reminds them of torture. It is not very enjoyable for us to listen to this piece at this life stage, because it transports us back to all the suffering, to what they did to us. »- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:Luis Mella Toro
- Experience in:
- Tags:
- « The Navy sailors made us sing every day, when we got up very early to raise the flag. We, as the squaddies, had to sing military songs, their songs. »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:Georgie Dann
- Experience in:Colonia Dignidad, April 1975
- Tags:
- « I have a story about 'El bimbó', a song that shaped us in those difficult moments in Colonia Dignidad. It was a song with a tropical rhythm that was very trendy in the 1970s. It was played every day on the radio. Also on Eurovision, in European festivals, and on the TV programme
300 Million . »- [Read full testimony]
Claudio Enrique Durán Pardo:
- Music piece by:Claudio Durán Pardo
- Experience in:Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, September - December 1975
- Tags:
- « I first laid my hands on a quena when I was nine years old. It was resplendently fragile and lyrical. My passion for this instrument was immediate, or rather, the quena chose me. »
- [Read full testimony]
Claudio Enrique Durán Pardo (Kila Chico):
- Music piece by:Violeta Parra
- Experience in:
- Tags:
- « We made a Venezuelan cuatro from a large plank of wood attached to one of the walls of the "ranch" where we ate. »
- [Read full testimony]
Claudio Melgarejo:
- Music piece by:Chicho Sánchez Ferlosio. Popularized by Quilapayún
- Experience in:Comisaría de Concepción, November 1973
- Tags:
- « I spent a week in captivity, in November 1973. I didn’t hear many songs, but the most popular ones sung by my comrades were 'Venceremos' (We Shall be Victorious) and 'Que la tortilla se vuelva' (May the Omelette Flip Over), also known as 'The Tomato Song', which portrays the bosses' exploitation of the workers. »
- [Read full testimony]
David Quintana García:
- Music piece by:Violeta Parra
- Experience in:Intendencia de Rancagua, 1973
- Tags:
- « I spent 45 days in the torture centre of Intendencia de Rancagua. Previously, I was detained with my brothers in the headquarters of the Cuartel de Investigaciones de Rancagua. »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:Teófilo Vargas Candia, popularised in Chile by the group Quilapayún
- Experience in:Cárcel de Rancagua, 1974 - 1975
- Tags:
- « On 10 September 1974, a folk band of Communist Youth activists arrived at the prison of Rancagua. They were arrested to prevent them from participating in the demonstrations and other acts against the dictatorship on
11 September through their role as musicians and activists. »- [Read full testimony]
Domingo Chávez Navarro:
- Music piece by:Víctor Valencia Nieto
- Experience in:Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, November 1973 - April 1974
- Tags:
- « Marcelo Concha Bascuñán sang this song, which many of us liked. I personally knew Marcelo and we were both released from prison at the same time. I left the country, whereas Marcelo stayed in Chile. The DINA picked him up and since then he is one of so many disappeared people. »
- [Read full testimony]
Domingo Lizama:
- Music piece by:Unknown composer. This song probably relates to European early-years pedagogy.
- Experience in:Cárcel de Valdivia / Cárcel de Isla Teja, 9 October 1973
- Tags:
- « They arrested me at my workplace in October 1973 . I was 31 years old and worked as a porter at a logging business in Chumpullo, near Valdivia. »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:Nicolás Guillén (lyrics) and Quilapayún (music)
- Experience in:Cárcel de Valdivia / Cárcel de Isla Teja, 1973 - 1978
- « On 10 September 1974, a folk band of Communist Youth activists arrived at the prison of Rancagua. They were arrested to prevent them from participating in the demonstrations and other acts against the dictatorship on
- « I have a story about 'El bimbó', a song that shaped us in those difficult moments in Colonia Dignidad. It was a song with a tropical rhythm that was very trendy in the 1970s. It was played every day on the radio. Also on Eurovision, in European festivals, and on the TV programme
- « In Colonia Dignidad, they played Swan Lake by
- « A comrade whose last name was Saavedra (if I recall correctly) sung this song passionately. This song earned him the nickname of