Cantos Cautivos
Testimonies
Testimonies are sorted by witness.
Germán Larrabe:
- Music piece by:Artidorio Cresseri
- Experience in:Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1974 - 1976
- Tags:
- « This zamba was the first song we tried to perform in Puchuncaví, with a group made up of prisoners transferred from Chacabuco Detention Camp together with us, newly arrived 'puchuncas'. »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:Hermanos Núñez
- Experience in:Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1974 -1976
- Tags:
- « A very sad song, often performed by parents of young children. »
- [Read full testimony]
Guillermo Orrego:
- Music piece by:unknown. Folk tune from the Andes highlands
- Experience in:
- Tags:
- « In 1974 - I don’t quite remember the month - the Chacabuco Olympics were held. The opening ceremony consisted of symbolically carrying the Olympic torch through the concentration camp. »
- [Read full testimony]
Guillermo Orrego Valdebenito:
- Music piece by:José Luis Armenteros and Pablo Herrero, popularised by Nino Bravo.
- Experience in:
- Tags:
- « This song was performed in the Stadium grandstands by a worker from the Madeco factory: Peineta Vasquez, winner of a Song Festival that was organised at grassroots level, during the times when we were allowed to leave the spaces under the grandstands, inside the stadium, to sunbathe, together with women from various countries, before they got sent off to the pool area. »
- [Read full testimony]
- Music piece by:Andrés Rivanera (lyrics) and Eugenio Moglia (music). Popularised by Los Moros and Jorge Yáñez.
- Experience in:
- Tags:
- « In Chacabuco there were two theatres: one that was very beautiful and was linked to the old saltpetre works, where it is claimed (wrongly as it happens) that Caruso once performed, and another theatre that was inside the concentration camp. »
- [Read full testimony]
Héctor Salgado:
- Music piece by:Attributed to Charles Albert Tindley
- Experience in:Cárcel de Concepción / Cárcel El Manzano, December 1974
- Tags:
- « I would like to add, to the testimony of Alfonso Padilla, a picture of the musical group that performed the
Joan Baez song, 'We Shall Overcome'. This group was formed and led by Alfonso Padilla during his time in prison. I was one of the first guitar students of Padilla. »- [Read full testimony]
Ignacio Puelma:
- Music piece by:Collective creation
- Experience in:Campamento de Prisoneros Ritoque, February 1975
- Tags:
- « The sound of the sea was carried over the cabins of the Ritoque Prison Camp by the wind. It was the daily music given to us as a gift by the ocean. »
- [Read full testimony]
Irma Alvarado:
- Music piece by:original by Friedrich von Schiller (lyrics) and Ludwig van Beethoven (music). Free version in Spanish by Amado Regueiro Rodríguez, aka Orbe (lyrics) y Waldo de los Ríos (music), popularised in Chile by Miguel Ríos.
- Experience in:Cárcel de Río Negro, December 1974
- Tags:
- « Together with two comrades, I arrived at Río Negro Prison from Chin Chin Prison in Puerto Montt. As punishment, we were sent to a storehouse where the grass was kept for the animals. We shared a small space with mice and giant spiders crawling over our beds. »
- [Read full testimony]
Joaquín Real Hermosilla:
- Music piece by:Eusebio Lillo and Ramón Carnicer
- Experience in:
- Tags:
- « Some 30 leaders and activists from the Popular Unity parties were arrested in Coyhaique and confined in Las Bandurrias, fifteen kilometres from the city, in a compound used as a veterinary clinic for horses. »
- [Read full testimony]
The Dead Man Won't Be Pinned on Me (Ese muerto no lo cargo yo)
- Music piece by:Graciela Arango de Tobón, popularised in Chile by Giolito y su Combo, and by Los Vikings 5
- Experience in:
- Tags:
- « From that troubled time, I would like to remember an activity that kept us active during the harsh confinement in Las Bandurrias. It is about music, an artistic expression that revealed the talent of several political prisoners and allowed us to endure the confinement for almost six months. »
- [Read full testimony]
Joaquín Vallejos:
- Music piece by:Víctor Jara
- Experience in:Academia de Guerra Naval, January 1974
- Tags:
- « I was arrested at home together with a childhood friend who they’d gone to pick up first. My family thought he’d stitched me up, which was not true. »
- [Read full testimony]
Jorge Montealegre Iturra:
- Music piece by:Fernando Z. Maldonado. Popularised by Vicente Fernández
- Experience in:
- Tags:
- « At the Chacabucan artistic shows, Hugo sang tangos, including 'Volver' (Return) by Gardel and Le Pera. »
- [Read full testimony]
José Selín Carrasco Vargas:
- Music piece by:Julio Numhauser, popularised by the band Amerindios
- Experience in:
- « I would like to add, to the testimony of Alfonso Padilla, a picture of the musical group that performed the