Cantos Cautivos

May the Omelette Flip Over (Que la tortilla se vuelva)

Music piece by:

Chicho Sánchez Ferlosio. Popularized by Quilapayún

Testimony by:

Claudio Melgarejo

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. »

[...]

« The lords of the mine »

« While waiting in the grandstands to be interrogated for the first, second or more times, we would sing 'Free' to those who were being lined up to be released. 'Free' was a catharsis, a mixture of joy for those who were going and hope for those of us left behind. Unfortunately, the dictatorship and its civil and military henchmen employed the song for their own propaganda. »

Music piece by:

José Luis Armenteros and Pablo Herrero, popularised by Nino Bravo.

Testimony by:

anonymous

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, September - November 1973

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. »

Music piece by:

José Luis Armenteros and Pablo Herrero, popularised by Nino Bravo.

Testimony by:

Guillermo Orrego Valdebenito

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, 1973

Tags:

[...]

« I’m from Chol Chol, part of the Coihue community. I was arrested along with 12 other people and they took us to the Second Police Station of Temuco. »

Music piece by:

José Luis Armenteros and Pablo Herrero, popularised by Nino Bravo.

Testimony by:

Paicavi Painemal

Experience in:

Comisaría de Carabineros N° 2, Temuco, 22 April 1985

Tags:

[...]

« I was taken prisoner on 23 November 1973, at the University of Concepción. In the Regional Stadium of Concepción, we had to sing the National Anthem every day. »

Music piece by:

José Luis Armenteros and Pablo Herrero, popularised by Nino Bravo.

Testimony by:

Marianella Ubilla

Experience in:

Campamento Prisioneros Estadio Regional, Christmas 1973

Tags:

[...]

Captain, our Destiny is a Wandering Island (Capitán, el rumbo es una isla errante)

Music piece by:

Sergio Vesely

Testimony by:

Sergio Vesely

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975

Tags:

« This song was dedicated to Óscar Castro, whom I was lucky enough to meet in 1975, in Puchuncaví. With his experience in theatre – Óscar was already a fairly well-known actor before his arrest – he threw himself into the cultural work we had organised, in what was then called “Camp Melinka” where the prisoners presented a show every Friday. »

[...]

« and by all the fauna of the sea. »

« 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'. »

La López Pereyra

Music piece by:

Artidorio Cresseri

Testimony by:

Germán Larrabe

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1974 - 1976

Tags:

[...]

« I asked the loveliest of them »

Saint Gregory’s Tonada (Tonada San Gregorio)

Music piece by:

Pedro Humire Loredo

Testimony by:

Pedro Humire Loredo

Experience in:

Tenencia de Carabineros Nueva España, Población San Gregorio, September 1973

Tags:

« This tonada recalls the horrible situation I was subjected to in the cells of the police station in the San Gregorio district in southern Santiago. »

[...]

« Little bird of the prison »

« At the time of the coup in 1973, this song was world-famous and frequently played on the radio. »

Morning Has Broken

Music piece by:

Cat Stevens, based on a traditional Gaelic hymn; lyrics by Eleanor Farjeon

Testimony by:

Luis Cifuentes Seves

Experience in:

Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, September - November 1973

Tags:

[...]

« Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden »